Flooding from the remnants of Debby leads to high water rescues in New York, Pennsylvania

The worst of the flash flooding so far in New York was occurring in villages and hamlets in a largely rural area south of the Finger Lakes, not far from the Pennsylvania border. In Steuben County, which borders Pennsylvania, officials ordered the evacuation of the towns of Jasper, Woodhull and part of Addison, and said people were trapped as floodwaters made multiple roads impassable. Area resident Stephanie Waters said parts of sheds, branches and uprooted trees were among the debris that slammed into the span. “Hearing the trees hit the bridge was scary,” she said. Fire Chief Timothy Martin said everybody was safe in the town, but “every business in Woodhull is damaged.” John Anderson said he watched the floodwaters come up quickly, overwhelming some vehicles in Canisteo, in Steuben County, and nearby in Andover, in Allegany County. It’s been very fierce,” said Anderson, who was providing dispatches to The Wellsville Sun. In Canisteo, farm owners Cliff and Deb Moss suffered heavy damage to their dairy farm, which has been there for more than five decades. A neighbor’s double-wide trailer floated down a field to a river during the flooding, said their daughter, Stacey Urban. Beyond heartbreaking,” Urban said. Ann Farkas, who also lives in Canisteo, said it was the first time her home, one of the oldest in the county, has flooded since she moved there in 1976. “The water’s going down, and so what’s left is this really thick — it’s like wet concrete — mud,” Farkas said. “Like a lot of people, I don’t have flood insurance, so I doubt my homeowner’s is going to cover any of this,” she said. About 20 evacuees arrived at a shelter set up at a high school, Red Cross spokesperson Michael Tedesco said. Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency Director Randy Padfield said a National Guard helicopter with aquatic rescue capability was sent to Tioga County because flooding conditions had become severe in the region, which runs along the New York state line. Padfield said Tioga officials have asked for help with eight to 10 rescue locations, and multiple boat-based rescues were also being conducted. In Potter County, also on the border with New York, the storm took out bridges and did severe damage to Route 49, Commissioner Bob Rossman said. “My understanding is the roadway is pretty much well gone,” Rossman said. And one of the main thoroughfares in the county.” He said one firefighter suffered water-related injuries, but Rossman did not know the extent. More than 150,000 customers were without power across New York and Pennsylvania, according to PowerOutage.us. Debby was downgraded to a tropical depression late Thursday afternoon and was a post-tropical cyclone on Friday, the National Hurricane Center said. It made landfall early Monday on the Gulf Coast of Florida as a Category 1 hurricane, emerged over the Atlantic Ocean and then hit land a second time early Thursday in South Carolina as a tropical storm. Phil Scott had warned that Debby’s remnants could cause serious damage, including in already drenched places that were hit by flash flooding twice last month. Flooding that slammed the northeastern part of the state on July 30 knocked out bridges, destroyed and damaged homes, and washed away roads in the rural town of Lyndon. AP AUDIO: Debby bringing heavy rain, flooding and possible tornadoes northeast into the weekend In an AP interview, National Weather Service meteorologist Marc Chenard says parts of New England and other states will see a significant amount of rain. Rick Dente, who owns Dente’s Market in Barre, Vermont, worked to protect his business with plastic and sandbags as the rain poured down on Friday. “There isn’t a whole lot else you can do,” he said. Jaqi Kincaid, hit by flooding last month in Lyndon, Vermont, said the previous storm knocked out her garage and well, so they have no water. “We’re doing a lot of this,” Kincaid said, holding her hands together as if in prayer. Stormwater swamped parts of downtown Annapolis, Maryland, including at the U.S. And flash flooding hit the South Carolina town of Moncks Corner, where one of Debby’s early bands unleashed a tornado on Tuesday. Across the surrounding Berkeley County, emergency crews made 33 high-water rescues. There were eight dam breaches in Georgia, half of them in rural Bulloch County northwest of Savannah, Gov. At one point, 140 people were in shelters, he said. Some poultry facilities flooded, and some cattle were lost in flooded pastures, officials said. ___ This story has been updated to correct that Jaqi Kincaid was hit once by flooding, not twice. Associated Press journalists Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, New York; Lisa Rathke in Barre, Vermont; Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina; and Susan Haigh in Norwich, Conn. contributed to this report. – This Summarize was created by Neural News AI (V1). Source: https://apnews.com/30ce7215d31b651f4fb575e9dde5d63e