NORWICH – The fact that county officials don’t expect individuals and business owners to receive flood disaster relief funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for at least a year doesn’t sit well with at least one town supervisor.
“It’s critical to say to the powers that be that we need the money in this fiscal year,” Town of Smyrna Supervisor James B. Bays said Monday during July’s board meeting. “My town wasn’t hit hard at all compared to in the southern parts, but a year to 18 months is unacceptable for all who suffered damages.”
The Chenango County Emergency Management Office estimates a total of $7 million in damages to villages, towns, the City of Norwich and county infrastructure from the heavy flooding the region suffered two weeks ago. There were approximately $2 to $3 million in road and bridge repair damages alone, and the highway department expects to be two years behind in regular maintenance by the time the clean up is finished.
The City of Norwich estimates $1.2 million in infrastructure damages and 37 homes received moderate to major water damage. 
The amount of damages far exceeds what’s required for FEMA designation. “It’s seems incredible to me. If we’ve reached our criteria for designation, why can’t the federal government put money in our coffers right away?” Bays asked.
“I agree with you,” Board Chairman Richard B. Decker said. “If we can get the appropriate people in higher places ... They need to be made aware of that to see if they can appropriate funds.” However, both Decker and Chenango County Public Works Director Randy Gibbon explained to Bays and other town supervisors that the recovery application process is lengthy and that previous FEMA funds have taken sometimes up to 18 months.
A spokesperson from U.S. Congressman Sherwood Boehlert said Monday if funding from FEMA is not coming quickly enough, that the Congressman “would move to expedite FEMA to the most affected as soon as possible.”
Supervisors in the towns of Bainbridge and Afton - where the heaviest water damage occurred - were most concerned about the funding lag. “I’m afraid we’ll both be very old men before we see relief from FEMA,” Robert D. Briggs, R-Afton, said. Only two-thirds of Afton has thus far been cleaned up. Finding temporary housing will be the town’s biggest challenge, he said. “It’s going to be expensive and take a long time to finish.”
Town of Columbus Supervisor George G. Coates said the region’s “lack of political and financial power” makes it “easily overlooked” by the federal government. “If we were down on Long Island or closer to the city, I would bet we’d see the money sooner,” he said.
“It was a night to remember,” Sheriff Thomas J. Loughren told the county leaders assembled for a special flood presentation after the board meeting yesterday. Loughren, Emergency Management Coordinator Matt Beckwith, Gibbon, and Public Health Director Marcus Flindt all gave follow-up reports, saying the damages and loss of life from the disaster could have been much greater.
“I can’t believe we didn’t have more death or serious injury than we had. In some cases, our first responders’ cars were floating. We had highway, fire, police out there in the pitch black with water rising and roads out everywhere. It was dangerous,” Loughren said.
“We are very fortunate we only had one person killed due to this flood,” Gibbon said. “People were driving through barricades and snow fencing. We had to dump piles of gravel to prevent them from having an accident on a damaged road and/or bridge.”
A total of 143 bridges, including nine in Greene, need to be evaluated as well as numerous culverts. A slide show depicted severe damages to county Route 38 in Guilford; county Route 4 in Preston; county Route 17; Ives Road in Bainbridge; Morgan Hill Road, county Route 34, Marble Road, Chase Road in Bainbridge; Davey Road in Coventry and Routes 35 and 31 toward Otsego County. The outages made the town of Bainbridge unreachable for two days.
Sheriff Loughren said despite “some bumps in the road” with emergency communications equipment and securing safe shelter for Bainbridge evacuees through the Red Cross, the various agencies “were well-organized” and “busy.” There were 729 emergency calls and 4,200 radio transmissions received at the 911 Center by late Tuesday and 2,500 emergency calls and almost 6,000 radio transmissions received the next day. “There’s no way our dispatchers could handle all of that,” he said.
He said the bus fleet from Broome, Otsego, Chenango Education Services (BOCES) was on call to evacuate Bainbridge residents should the Sidney dam have broken. “We had at least three serious rumors regarding that, but then were able to receive frequent Army Corps of Engineers reports from officials right on site, watching the dam,” Loughren said.
“Afton and Bainbridge were like a war zone. People were shocked, sometimes running after hearing one of the false reports of the dam breaking,” he said. The village was 27 feet over peak flood stages before the waters crested on Wednesday.
Loughren gave credit to volunteer fire squads for rescuing people off their front porches, finding water and shelter for them and helping road crews and other agencies around the clock. Once volunteers reached Afton and Bainbridge, they stayed for three days, he said.
“The most valuable players were perhaps our volunteer firemen. They came through for us once again. I have to give them credit. We are so fortunate to have people like that.”
“It was nothing like I’ve ever seen ... Most don’t see that in a lifetime,” Beckwith said in his presentation. The fire coordinator said he was able to pull resources from other counties to help. Twenty-seven, two to four person teams of firemen were sent to Afton, Bainbridge, Oxford and Norwich and spent four days pumping water and making evacuations. Beckwith was able to secure a donation of 20 pallets of water and many blankets and pillows from Wal-Mart for the emergency shelters.
Flindt said 260 free tetnus and hepatitis shots were administered by Registered Nurses on call in Norwich, Guilford, Afton and Bainbridge. All evacuees in shelters were assessed and treated for health problems. And boiled water alerts were issued in Bainbridge, Afton and Guilford.
“We continue to provide education regarding food and drinking water safety, and information about mold abatement in buildings,” he said.
Fifteen teams of inspectors from throughout New York were on hand July 2-7 and looked at 640 buildings at no charge. Of that number, 119 had moderate damage, 158 had major damage and 27 were totally destroyed.
The Public Health Department requested that restaurants discard all unrefrigerated food supplies and check water safety. Officials are currently able to assist with disinfecting wells and helping restaurants open.
“We will be monitoring the health of our population for at least the next few months,” Flindt said, adding that hospital emergency rooms will be checked frequently to see if there are any trends in electrocutions, tetanus, chemically induced jaundice, skin problems, acute diarrhea episodes and acute respiratory episodes.
Town of Guilford Supervisors Alton B. Doyle complained about motorists and sight-seers during the disaster who argued with flagmen and volunteer fire department officials who were trying to close off portions of roads. “They argued with our people,” Doyle said. “Can we arrest them?”
Loughren: “Yes. We can arrest them and we will. Our main focus initially was to rescue people from their homes and make sure they had food, water and shelter. But, we will review our strategy in this and find a way to arrest those who violate the state of emergency precautions.”
County leaders yesterday authorized the public works department to purchase supplies, materials or equipment without public bidding on an emergency basis. Individual towns may follow suit as well, though county Attorney Richard W. Breslin said there was “no way to force vendors to give the same price.”