Flash Flood — Montgomery, New York

2013-06-28 · near Ft Plain, Montgomery, New York

Event narrative

Flash flooding occurred throughout Fort Plain due to heavy rainfall. Fifty to one hundred people were trapped in homes and water rescues needed to take place. Media reported up to two hundred homes were damaged or destroyed by flooding. Every road within the town was under water and some bridges were damaged or destroyed. One fatality occurred as flood waters swept a woman from a trailer away.

Wider weather episode

After several weeks of very wet weather, the ground across the region was already quite saturated due to recent flooding. This made the region susceptible to additional flooding.

An unusually strong area of low pressure for late June moved from central Pennsylvania northeastward across eastern New York during the early morning hours of Friday, June 28th. This storm system was more typical of a winter-like storm, due to deep low pressure and heavy precipitation spiraling around the western side of the storm system. A strong southerly flow ahead of this system transported very moist air into the region.

Heavy rainfall moved across the Mohawk Valley and western Adirondacks in advance of the low pressure during the early morning hours. The rain fell heaviest during the late night hours before tapering off during the late morning. Rainfall fell at rates of nearly one inch per hour at times with three to five inches of rainfall having occurred in total. This led to significant flash flooding across both the Mohawk Valley and Adirondacks.

Many roads were washed out and closed, including a portion of the New York State Thruway between exits 29 (Canajoharie) and 29A (Little Falls). In addition, urbanized areas along the Mohawk River experienced dangerous amounts of flooding. The entire town of Fort Plain was under water and many swift water rescues had to take place. Many homes and trailers were impacted by flood waters. The New York State Barge Canal was closed as a result of the flooding. In addition, one fatality occurred as a result of the flooding.

State of emergencies were declared in many communities as a result of the flooding including: Herkimer County, Montgomery County, Village of Ilion (Herkimer County), Town and Village of Herkimer (Herkimer County), Village of Mohawk (Herkimer County), Town of Johnsburg (Warren County), Town of Minden (Montgomery County), and the Town of German Flatts (Herkimer County).

On July 12th, President Obama signed a New York Disaster Declaration and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the area affected by severe storms and flooding during the period of June 28 to July 4, 2013. This included Herkimer, Montgomery and Warren counties in east central New York.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (42.9381, -74.6396)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 456447. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.