Flash Flood — Rensselaer, New York

1999-09-16 to 1999-09-17 · near Countywide, Rensselaer, New York

Wider weather episode

The remnants of Hurricane Floyd moved up the eastern seaboard on September 16 and during the early hours on September 17. The storm brought both high winds and exceptionally heavy rainfall to eastern New York, which included a large swath of 3 to 6 inch amounts. A frontal zone helped concentrate the heaviest rain just to the west of the Hudson Valley in the eastern Catskills and Helderbergs . Locally higher amounts of rainfall, exceeding a foot, fell in these areas. Specific rainfall amounts included 6.12 inches at Albany International Airport, the highest ever officially recorded from any given storm! Even higher amounts of rainfall included 8.15 inches in Delmar and 9 inches at Knox, both located in Albany County. 12.21 inches of rainfall was recorded in Cairo, Greene County, the most associated with the storm! The rain produced widespread flooding across the region, which proved very destructive and in one case, deadly. A nine-year-old girl in Wingdale, Dutchess County, drowned attempting to cross a flooded driveway, which had become a raging torrent. Significant flooding was noted on many smaller tributaries, including the Esopus, Catskill and Schoharie Creeks. The Normanskill in Albany rose to 13.5 feet, the second highest flood on record badly damaging homes in its vicinity. Coeymans Creek overflowed, forcing evacuation from 20 homes in Selkirk, Albany County. While the larger rivers did not generally exceed bankfull, heavy runoff pushed raw sewage into the Stockade section of Schenectady. In addition, rains not only flooded many roadways but washed out portions of them. One of these washouts was on Route 20 in Guilderland, between Willow Street and State Route 146. Seven families had to be evacuated from homes along Route 32 in Menands, Albany County. Many communities and counties declared a State of Emergency during the overnight of September 16 and 17. The rains, combined with left-over rain from Tropical Storm Dennis, a week earlier, alleviated the fourteen month drought across most of the region. Winds from the passage of Floyd gusted to 49 mph at Albany International Airport during the evening of September 16. Higher gusts estimated over 60 mph were common across the hilltowns. The combination of the wind and very saturated ground, produced widespread downing of trees and power lines across much of eastern New York. The Wolf Pond Valley of northwest Warren County had wind gusts estimated as high as 80 mph. Hundreds, if not over a thousand trees were downed in a mile-long, 200-yard-wide swath in the narrow valley. Some of the trees fell on vehicles and houses across Eastern New York. One house was especially damaged in Rhinebeck, Dutchess County. The rain and wind produced massive power outages across the region. As many as 80,000 people lost power in the Mid Hudson Valley region, 54,000 in the Greater Capital District and another 25,000 in the Lake George Saratoga region. Some individuals had to wait over a week for power to be restored. The storm resulted in lost wages , closed schools throughout the region, and cancelled flights at Albany International Airport. Floyd resulted in the counties of Albany, Dutchess ,Greene and Rensselaer being declared "major disaster areas" by Governor Pataki.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5718025. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.