WASHINGTON, D.C. – United States Senator Charles E. Schumer has demanded the U.S. Geological Survey Agency (USGS) keep flood gauges across the state up and running in case of future flooding like that which occurred following Tropical Storms Irene and Lee in 2011.
According to a Dec. 6 press release issued by the senator, the USGS is currently considering the closure of approximately 30 stream gauges statewide, including seven in Chenango County. Those gauges listed in the press release include the Unadilla River at Rockdale; the Susquehanna River at Bainbridge and the Chenango River at Sherburne, Oxford, Greene and Norwich.
Schumer called the gauges a key component in the state’s flood warning system, one that is often used to warn residents and business owners in low-lying areas with a history of flooding.
“Removing stream gauges on flood-prone bodies of water is like rebuilding a home after a fire and switching off the smoke detectors ... it makes absolutely no sense, especially after getting hammered by floods following Tropical Storms Lee and Irene,” said the senator. “These stream gauges are in constant use, helping first responders and local leaders make minute-by-minute decisions ... switching off these gauges would tie a hand behind our back during huge rain storms and during the spring when the snow melts.”
Schumer added he will “fight tooth and nail” to make certain the gauges remain in place and that communities across the state have “every resource available to fight the threat of floods.”
The gauges are scheduled to be switched off in March of 2012, according to the senator, due to budget cuts which have forced the USGS to scale down stream gauge management.
City of Norwich Emergency Management Officer A. Jones said shutting down the gauges has been an on-again, off-again issue that’s popped up several times over the past couple of years. And while it’s something that “keeps getting put off,” at some point it’s “probably going to come to a head,” he added. The only other way to monitor flooding in the areas listed, said Jones, is through manpower.
“To have someone sit there and watch [the water level] isn’t practical,” he added. “If there’s ever been any question as to the need for these gauges, the flooding in 2005, 2006 and 2011 have shown that.”
Jones reported that the gauges not only measure the rivers’ height, but also water flow. The weather service, he said, uses that information to develop an overall forecast on when and at what height the rivers will crest.
“That’s the piece we would lose ... we wouldn’t know exactly how high [the river] was going to go or what the consequences would be. This would put a lot of people’s property and – potentially – lives in danger.”
The USGS’s shutdown of the gauges would not affect those owned by the city’s Emergency Management Office – located at the Chenango River in Norwich and Canasawacta Creek in Norwich and Plymouth – although those gauges do not have forecast points. Typically, said Jones, those gauges are used in conjunction with the USGS system for verification.
According to Schumer’s office, the USGS manages 7,800 gauges nationwide and plans to shut down 580 of those. The cost of those gauges set to be switched off in New York is approximately $430,000 per year, said Schumer in a letter addressed to USGS Director Marcia McNutt, compared to an estimated $1 billion in damages from Tropical Storms Irene and Lee.
“I am aware that difficult choices must be made in allocating federal resources but we cannot shortchange programs that our communities rely on to keep their citizens safe and well-informed,” added Schumer in the December 6 letter. “Earlier this year, New York State was struck by Tropical Storms Irene and Lee which caused significant flooding and devastated communities throughout the state. As these and other disasters have shown, funding the gauges in New York is a critical and comparatively minor investment relative to the cost of dealing with a flood for which a community did not have time to prepare.”