Flood — Schoharie, New York

1996-01-19 to 1996-01-20 · Schoharie, New York

Wider weather episode

An intense area of low pressure which was located over the Mid-Atlantic region on Friday morning January 19th produced unseasonably warm temperatures, high dewpoints and strong winds. This resulted in rapid melting of one to three feet of snow. In addition to the rapid snowmelt one to three inches of rain fell as the system moved northeast along the coast. This resulted in widespread flooding across Schoharie County and a record breaking flood on the Schoharie Creek. Federal Disaster Assistance was made available by presidential declaration. Village of Schoharie and Middleburgh saw the most severe flooding. Along the Schoharie Creek 55 single homes were destroyed, 125 suffered major damage, 316 suffered minor damage, 6 mobile homes were destroyed, 111 cattle were drowned and 375 acres of farmland was damaged. Two Village of Schoharie residents died due to exposure when fast rising waters trapped them in their home. At Priddle Camp near Esperance 15 homes were destroyed and 10 suffered major damage. Many roads were washed out across the county with 8.5 million dollars of damage incurred to county roads and bridges. Heavy damage occurred in the following places Stryker Road in the Town of Gilboa, Junction Road and bridge in Esperance, state route 900v and bridge at Gilboa, Sholtes and Schoonmaker bridges in Wright, River Street and route 30 in Middleburgh and route 7 over Schoharie Creek. In Middleburgh the downtown area was evacuated and in Schoharie several businesses were flooded including the Harva Company, The Printers and Great American.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5553410. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.