Remnants of Debby expected to drench North Country regions
By Mike Lynch
Another potentially serious storm is headed toward the Adirondacks, just weeks after Beryl washed away roads, left people without power and sent tornadoes through the region.
The National Weather Service has issued a flood watch for the North Country starting Friday 8 a.m. for about 24 hours as the remnants of Hurricane Debby moves in. The storm is forecasted to drop two to four inches of rain in the Adirondacks.
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Debby, which started as a hurricane but weakened to a tropical storm, has already flooded many communities along the East Coast. It dropped 21.06 inches at Tatum Ridge, Fla., and 17.27 inches in Summerville, S.C., according to AccuWeather.
Rodney Chai, lead meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Burlington, Vt., said the main storm threats will be flash flooding and river flooding.
Impacts from Debby will likely occur over a shorter time than last month’s storm from Hurricane Beryl, he said.
That storm caused millions of dollars of damage from wind and flooding damage. Officials confirmed seven tornadoes in the southern and eastern Adirondacks from the July storm.
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The chance of a tornado is low but still possible for the upcoming storm, Chai said.
“We are also looking at the potential for a very isolated, very localized tornado threat, maybe a strong to locally damaging wind gusts,” he said. “This cannot be ruled out.”
As a result of the potential flooding and wind damage, county emergency service departments have been issuing alerts, asking residents to plan ahead.
Victoria Fish, Hamilton County’s public health emergency preparedness coordinator, warned people to be “prepared on a bunch of different levels from food to communications to medications.”
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Hamilton County Emergency Services Director Tim O’Neill said his department has been conferring with state and local officials and getting direct updates from the National Weather Service in Albany.
He said as of Thursday afternoon the rain forecast pointed to up to three inches for Hamilton County. The heaviest rain is expected from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., he said.
People are also being asked to take the weather into account if they are planning any backcountry trips.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation is advising hikers to avoid all high-elevation trails. The same goes for trails that cross rivers and streams because those waterways could become impassable.
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The Adirondack Mountain Club, which runs the Cascade and High Peaks information centers in Essex County, is telling people to plan ahead when organizing their trips and “consider avoiding being in places where they’re at risk or they put themselves or rescuers at risk,” said ADK interim Executive Director Julia Goren.
That includes avoiding trails and roads with stream or river crossings.
“Based on what we’ve seen over the last couple of rainstorms, there’s a chance that some of our smaller roads, particularly ones that haven’t been fully repaired from the last rainstorm, might wash out,” Goren said.
Keene Supervisor Joe Pete Wilson said the town has suspended its hiker shuttle from Marcy Field to the Garden Parking Lot in the eastern High Peaks for the weekend.
During Beryl, the road to that lot washed out, stranding people on the other side.
Chloe Bennett contributed to this report.
The graphic at the top shows the path of Tropical Storm Debby and the potential for flash flooding. Courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
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