Heavy rains in upstate New York led to flash flooding, water rescues, and the destruction of a centuries-old grist mill, with cleanup efforts underway on Thursday. Nearly a foot (30 centimeters) of rain fell in parts of Columbia and Rensselaer counties near Albany during a 48-hour period ending Thursday morning, according to the National Weather Service. Albany, the state capital, received 8 inches (20 centimeters) of rain over the same period.
First responders in Albany and several other towns rescued people from their homes and vehicles on Wednesday as waterways and streets flooded. Crews also pumped out waterlogged basements. There were no reports of deaths or injuries, and the floodwaters were receding by Thursday.
Photos and videos posted online showed stranded cars with water up to their door windows, local farmland inundated by heavy rains, and fast-moving floodwaters spilling over roads. The grist mill owner, Andy Klein, said a neighbor warned him of the flooding at about 8 a.m. Wednesday in Castleton-on-Hudson. An abutting creek swamped his property with waters 3 to 4 feet (91 centimeters to 122 centimeters) deep, destroying the oldest part of the mill next to his home.
"It’s just a horrible event," Klein said. "The mill’s been there for hundreds of years, and (a) very sad event. I’m a big fan of history, and I just watched a building being torn apart."
The water plant in Castleton-on-Hudson sustained damage during the flooding, leading to an advisory for local residents to boil their water and reduce water usage, officials said. The storm brought widespread flooding to eastern New York, with some locations receiving several times their normal July precipitation in little more than a day. Meteorologists described the event as a 1-in-1,000-year occurrence, highlighting the growing threat posed by extreme rain events.
On July 29 alone, Albany received 5.45 inches of rain, nearly an inch above its average rainfall for the entire month of July, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Joe Villani. That total made it Albany's second-wettest calendar day on record. Around 7 inches of rain fell in Albany from the storm, contributing to the capital city experiencing its fourth-wettest July on record. Rain totals were even higher in nearby towns, such as 11.79 inches in Schodack and 11.47 inches in Kinderhook from the storm.
The deluge underscored the growing threat posed by extreme rain events, which can turn normally manageable waterways into dangerous flood zones within hours and leave communities grappling with significant damage long after the rain ends.