Flood — St. Lawrence, New York

2014-04-15 to 2014-04-17 · near North Corners, St. Lawrence, New York

Event narrative

Heavy rainfall and snowmelt combined to produce flooding across St. Lawrence County. The Grass and St. Regis Rivers were particularly hard hit, and the Oswegatchie and its tributaries continued to run high from flooding in the previous week. Along the St. Regis, two homes were evacuated in Brasher Center, and areas in Winthrop and Brasher Falls were flooded. In Brasher Center, the Main Street Bridge and County Rte 53 were closed. Throughout Stockholm other bridges over the St. Regis were closed due to flooding, and State Rte 420 Extension and Barnage Road were closed. On the Grass River, several cottages were surrounded by water in Madrid along County Route 36. Elsewhere across the county there were numerous roads closed, including Route 184 at Pope Mills.

Wider weather episode

Snowmelt from a late season snowpack combined with heavy rain produced widespread flooding across northern New York. Four to six inches of water was released from the snowpack over April 10 to 15 when daytime highs reached the 60s and 70s, and overnight lows remained well above freezing. Rivers were brought to near bankfull or minor flood levels from snowmelt alone. Rain developed along and ahead of a cold front on April 15, and forced rivers out of their banks. Freezing temperatures returned by the morning of April 16, which slowed or halted the runoff, and flooding gradually subsided.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (44.7737, -75.3654)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 507378. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.