Around 8pm last night, Delaware County Emergency Services announced that flash flooding had led to road closings and evacuations in Sidney Center:
Delaware County has experienced heavy rainfall that has resulted in flash flooding throughout the county. A travel advisory has been issued until 8:00 a.m. Saturday, May 21st. Multiple roadways are closed at this time. Evacuations have been completed on approximately 15 homes in the Sidney Center and Masonville area and the American Red Cross is being deployed to the area to assist 20-25 citizens affected by the flooding. Storm Emergency Fire Units (SEFU’s) have also been deployed to assist with dewatering and tree and debris removal. Local town highway departments, Delaware County DPW and New York State DOT are all working to clear roadways and post signs alerting travelers of the road closures.
Roads that are closed as of 1900 hours are as follows:
Sidney Center area: Dunshee Road, Road 13, County Highway 23, County Highway 27, County Highway 35, Roof Road, Richardson Hill Road
Trout Creek area: State Highway 206 between County Highway 35 and County Highway 47 (Loomis Brook), County Highway 27, Teed Road and Bridge Street
Franklin area: State Highway 28 (Franklin Mountain) and State Highway 357 between the Village of Franklin and East Sidney Dam
The county also issued several alerts on NY-Alert about the road closings and a state of emergency being declared in Sidney Center.
Although the alerts linked above have expired, the roads may still be closed. As of 10:30 this morning, a dispatcher at Delaware County 911 had not heard any recent updates from the affected areas. Stay tuned for further updates -- we'll let you know when we get more information. (And if you know of any roads where closures have been lifted, or additional roads closed that aren't in the press release posted above, please leave a comment below or let us know at editor@watershedpost.com.)
Update, 11am: We've heard anecdotal reports of electrical and phone outages. (The Daily Star just posted on their Facebook wall that their phone and internet is out.) If you have more info, please let us know.
