Flood damages to public property nearly $1 million

Taking into account strictly the damage done to public property, officials are saying initial estimates place the damage close to $1 million.

Village clerk Rick Roberts reported touring the village with an insurance adjuster on Labor Day getting preliminary estimates for damage of from $650,000 to around $750,000.

No damage estimates for private property have been determined at this point.

Political representatives have toured the damaged areas including Rep. Tony Jordan, Sen. Betty Little and Congressman Chris Gibson; each had promised to do what they can to help Granville, Mayor Brian LaRose said.

LaRose said he and Granville Town Supervisor Matt Hicks met with Gibson the day after the storm to advise him on the damage done to Granville. 

Monday, Aug. 29 Washington County Code Enforcement went through houses in the village in need of inspections before the power could be turned back on. Most houses on Factory and Glen streets, Rathbun Avenue and River Valley Drive were given a clean bill of health, pending electrical work, officials said.  

According to officials every basement electrical box that went under water had to be replaced before New York State Electric and Gas (NYSEG) would allow the power to come back on.

At an informational meeting held Aug. 30 for residents impacted by flood LaRose said Duane Daigle volunteered to undertake that task, working his way from house to house switching out old boxes for new ones.  

On Factory Street, resident Don Viger had his old electrical box out in the back yard. Viger said other than the telltale sediment and residue covering the box in a fine sheen of dust, he could not see anything wrong with the panel.

LaRose said he was hoping to have power back on in all houses by end of Tuesday or Wednesday, a goal most of the area houses met.

Residents were advised to keep a list of all of the things that they have to throw out during the clean up as well as taking pictures of those items for insurance purposes at a meeting held Tuesday morning at the village hall.  

Residents were also advised to get a written estimate of any work they needed done to have it ready to be provided to any government disaster relief representatives.

After the meeting LaRose took a moment to look back at the past few days. “It’s been quite a wild ride, but I can’t say enough how impressed I’ve been with the coordinate efforts that I saw that night,” LaRose said.

During the tropical storm LaRose said officials met to get a sense of what was going on and were also in constant contact when not touring Granville together.

Hicks said he checked in with Highway Superintendent John Tanner but found the most serious threat to life and property laid within the village and came in to meet with LaRose.

LaRose gave the emergency services response in Granville the highest marks possible praising their preparedness as well as their bravery and selflessness.

Between local volunteer first responders in EMS and fire were village police, Washington County Sheriff’s deputies and Department of Environmental Conservation police all lending a hand to help people in need.

“I’d have to say what Matt (Hicks) said, their actions were just ‘heroic, truly heroic’ they acted without concern for their own personal safety on more than one occasion,” LaRose said.

“It was an impressive thing to watch,” he said.

Starting at the crack of dawn the following morning, officials began to hold assessment meetings every three hours to determine the course and priority of relief efforts.

Fire, police and DPW met with officials to organize the efforts and report results.

“We would meet and say ‘OK, what are the three most important things that have to get done?’ and when they were done, we’d take the next three,” LaRose said.

The assessment meeting continued into the afternoon until the situation seemed to be under control.

Since the chief concern throughout the storm had been public safety, LaRose said those meetings were critical to getting resources where they needed to be in a timely fashion.