Flood in Schenectady County, New York

NWS Albany Meteorologists contacted the Schenectady County Warning Point to seek more information about flooding from an ice jam that had been reported on by a local news team. The warning point relayed that Rosendale Road was closed between Mohawk Road and Niskayuna Road due to the same ice jam.

After a very cold winter, a significant amount of ice, with substantial depth, developed on main-stem rivers across eastern New York. Periodic multi-day stretches of late-season, above-normal temperatures subsequently led to considerable ice melt over a short amount of time. This ultimately led to flooding in Schenectady and Saratoga Counties in early March after an ice jam broke loose on the Mohawk River. NWS Albany was made aware of the flooding and its requisite impacts from communication with both local news outlets and emergency managers in the area. As a direct result of the ice jam flooding, the SUNY Schenectady campus was closed on March 9th with all classes on campus cancelled due to associated parking lots and roadways inundated with low amounts of standing water. Additionally, NWS Albany was made aware that Rosendale Road between Mohawk Road and Niskayuna Road was closed due to flooding from this same ice jam. However, local emergency managers in the area stated that this flooding was more minor compared to the flooding in Saratoga County. Here, the town of Halfmoon sustained more significant impacts with the closure of Riverview Road near Boyack Road. In a recording of a local news report, water from a small stream stemming off the Mohawk River was overrunning a low point in the road to a fairly significant extent. The water was also moving at the time of the broadcast and the reporter noted that it had begun to recede compared to what it had been. Luckily, it only took about 24 hours or so for the flooding to recede from all areas, allowing the aforementioned roadways and the SUNY Schenectady Campus to promptly re-open by the following morning.