85 Rescues In Ida-Flooded Rockland

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NY — Urging Rockland residents to stay home while flooded, debris-strewn roads are cleared, County Executive Ed Day said 85 people had been rescued by emergency responders during post-tropical storm Ida.

"Please stay home, work from home if you can and allow for cleanup to take place," he said. "If you go out now you will just clog the roads with additional traffic and further delay a return to normal conditions."

Runoff from the heavy rain will continue so large streams and rivers will still have rising waters for the next 12 to 24 hours, Clarkstown Town Supervisor George Hoehmann warned.

In addition to the New York State Thruway and several county-maintained roads, there are all kinds of obstructions on minor roads throughout Rockland due to the overnight flooding conditions.

Rockland County Maintained Roads currently closed (this is not a comprehensive list of roads closed around Rockland):

• Hungry Hollow Road by Sparrow Avenue in Chestnut Ridge is closed due to a down tree (expected to reopen late AM/early PM 9/2).
• South Pascack by Lillian Drive in Chestnut Ridge is closed due to a tree down on wires (expected to reopen shortly).
• Spook Rock Road between Joy Road and Wesley Chapel Road is closed due to flooding and concerns related to a rock wall dam lining the roadway (expected to remain closed for 24-48 hours until water recedes and dam can be inspected).

Transport of Rockland (TOR) #59 is suspended until further notice due to flooding and road closures. Service will resume as conditions improve. TOR is providing limited service on all other routes. Please expect delays. Road conditions will be monitored throughout the day to determine when additional TOR bus service can be resumed.

Wednesday evening Director of Fire and Emergency Services Chris Kear requested that the New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services relocate their prepositioned water rescue assets to the Rockland County Fire Training Center in Pomona.

The DHSES Water Rescue Team was then deployed to Orangeburg where they assisted the Orangeburg Fire Department in rescuing 11 people from floodwaters at the intersection of Route 303 and Orangeburg Road.

Several other fire and police departments were involved in rescuing people from vehicles submerged in flood waters in the following locations:

• New City 1 person rescued
• Tappan 3 people rescued
• Nanuet 10 people rescued
• Tallman 25 people rescued
• Spring Valley 35 people rescued

There were 212 fire calls from 5:30 p.m. Wednesday until 7 a.m. Thursday. These calls could have been rescues, pump out requests, alarms or flooding concerns among other issues.

“The incredible response by our volunteer fire departments, police departments, EMS agencies and the assistance of New York State teams prevented significant loss of life last night. I am incredibly proud of and thankful for our first responders and commend them for their work and heroism,” Day said.

When the parking lots at the Spook Rock Industrial Park flooded, the Tallman Fire Department and Ramapo police helped get people out of the (dry) buildings — but needed help from Mahwah Co 1 Dive-Water Rescue. The police posted a video of the rescue boat cruising through the parking lot.

The Clarkstown Police Department had over 200 calls for service between 9 p.m. and 4 a.m., almost all weather-related, Hoehmann said. About 31 roads were closed at the height of the flooding, but most are now open, he said at 7:48 a.m. In addition to the usual spots, like along Route 59, "This was the most significant rain/flooding event we have experienced since 2004. We had flooding in places that never flood," he said.

O&R reported just 874 Rockland customers still without electricity, most in Upper Nyack, Grandview on Hudson and Sparkill. A total of 2,833 customers were still out in its service area as of 9:55 a.m., out of 17,000 who lost power in the storm.

Click on the map to hone in on your community:

SEE ALSO:

• O&R Restoring Power After Ida
• Ida Flooding, Debris Closes NY State Thruway, Hudson Valley Roads
• School Districts Announce Closings, Delays
• At Least 8 Dead After Hurricane Ida Remnants Flood NYC