Flash Flood — Columbia, New York

2009-07-29 · near Stuyvesant, Columbia, New York

Event narrative

Training thunderstorms produced excessive rainfall, and major flash flooding across northern and central portions of Columbia County during Wednesday afternoon and night. The heavy rainfall also led to Kinderhook Creek overflowing its banks.

Numerous roadways were closed due to flooding, which included, but were not limited to, Route 28, Route 13 near Albany Turnpike, Route 295 near Schillings Crossing Road, Hennett Road, McCagg Road, Gun Road, and Novak Road in Chatham, Route 9H near Fischer Road, East Shore Drive, and State Route 203 near Chapel Drive in Kinderhook, State Route 20 near the Speedway in New Lebanon, and Route 9J in Stuyvesant. Novak Road in Kinderhook and Reed Road in Ghent were reportedly washed out.

Numerous campers were stranded in water and mud within the parking area and adjacent camping area at Lebanon Valley Speedway in New Lebanon.

In addition, in Red Rock, County Route 5 at County Route 24 was closed due to a mudslide, and in Hollowville, County Route 16 was also closed due to a mudslide.

The severe flooding also led to the declaration of a state of emergency for the towns of Stuyvesant, Kinderhook, and New Lebanon.

Preliminary damage estimates in Columbia County from the flash flooding were in excess of $4 million.

Wider weather episode

The combination of a slow moving cold front approaching from the west, and an abundantly moist and warm air mass in place, led to the development of numerous showers and thunderstorms across eastern New York and western New England during Wednesday afternoon and evening on July 29th.

Some of the thunderstorms were severe, producing isolated damaging winds. In addition, several clusters of thunderstorms moved slowly, and trained across the same areas for several hours, producing torrential rainfall and resulting in significant flash flooding.

Trained spotters measured rainfall amounts of 4 to 7 inches within the most persistent thunderstorms over a 3 to 6 hour period, particularly near Kinderhook, and adjacent areas of northern Columbia and southern Rensselaer Counties. In addition to widespread flash flooding, the Kinderhook Creek also overflowed its banks, resulting in additional flash flooding.

As a result of the flooding, Amtrak train service was suspended early Thursday morning on July 30th between the Rensselaer Rail Station and Penn Station, in order for track and signal systems to be examined for flood damage in Hudson. The rail service resumed by early Thursday afternoon.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (42.3900, -73.7800)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 189368. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.