1 dead, 4 missing in New York floods
Pastor Dale Morgan
1 dead, 4 missing in New York floods*
ROSCOE, N.Y. (AP) — Police were searching Wednesday for four people
reported missing after a flash flood in the southern edge of the
Catskill Mountains
Up to eight inches of rain fell in two hours late Tuesday night, washing
out roads and homes and slamming trees into bridges in this rural area.
While two people initially unaccounted for after the deluge were found,
troopers on Wednesday afternoon were still searching for four people,
according to state police Sgt. Keith Hocker. He said witnesses saw two
of the missing people being swept away by flood waters.
"We have helicopters, we have people on the ground, we have divers,"
Hocker said.
About 75 to 100 troopers searching in southern Delaware County were
being assisted by other police agencies, forest rangers and corrections
officers. As of Wednesday afternoon, there had been no confirmed reports
of deaths in the flooding.
The downpour came as a series of storms tore through New York state on
Tuesday, killing at least one person and leaving more than 3,000
electricity customers still without power Wednesday.
Details about the search were sketchy, in part because phone lines were
down and cell service is spotty in this rural area 100 miles northwest
of New York City.
Scattered power outages remained around the state Wednesday.
National Grid reported 1,700 outages, with more than half in Essex
County in northern New York. Central Hudson Gas & Electric and New York
State Electric and Gas reported about 200 outages each scattered
throughout the Hudson Valley. About 1,200 Rochester Gas & Electric
customers were without power in western New York.
In Rochester, a man riding a recreational vehicle on a wooded trail
along the Genesee River was killed when the top half of a tree as tall
as 100 feet crashed down on him during a storm Tuesday afternoon, Fire
Department Capt. Dan McBride said.
Sustained winds of nearly 50 miles an hour, with gusts of 60 mph to 65
mph, were recorded at the city's airport, the National Weather Service said.
Dozens of oak trees upwards of 100 feet tall were snapped in half by the
gusts, McBride said.
In the suburb of Brighton, a tree crashed on a car near a park, trapping
a woman. She was freed by firefighters and taken to a hospital with what
appeared to be minor injuries.