GUILFORD – It was hard to believe such a small stream did so much damage, Town of Guilford officials said Wednesday, as they overlooked the massive crater fracturing Ives Settlement Road.

“This is quite an undertaking” said Town of Guilford Supervisor Alton Doyle, observing the Guilford Highway Department as they began work putting the road back together. “Mother Nature really dealt Chenango County and a lot of other places a real blow this year.”

Ives Settlement, like many other roads throughout the county, was washed away in late June following what some local experts speculated may be a 500 year flood; the worst the area has ever seen.

“It’s a pretty good hole,” said Guilford Highway Superintendent Robert Flemming. Flemming roughly estimated the hole to measure 150-feet-across and 35-feet-deep, caused by what now appears to be a trickling brook just beyond the Sundown Golf Course. He believes his highway crew will have the closed-road passable again by Monday or Tuesday of next week. “Once we get going we’ll be able to go pretty fast,” he said. “These guys will do anything.”