Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Storms Cause Major Flood Damage In Yates County

Strong thunderstorms caused major flood damage in parts of Yates County overnight from Tuesday into Wednesday, as well as some damage in Ontario County. Early Wednesday afternoon, Governor Cuomo declared a state of emergency in Yates County. He says that will help bring state resources to flood-damaged areas.

The National Weather Service says those storms dumped up to 6 inches of rain within a relatively short period of time in parts of Yates County.

In Yates County, most of the flood damage was in the Penn Yan area and also in Branchport. The Red Cross set up a shelter at the Penn Yan Academy for families impacted by the flooding. A number of roads were washed out and officials were advising no unnecessary travel. (click on the photo shown here for a slideshow of photos of the storm damage)

Yates County Sheriff Ron Spike  declared that a special state of emergency  in parts of  that county, especially in the Village of Penn Yan and the Town of Jerusalem.  A number of roads were impassable in parts of Penn Yan and the Branchport area. 

Spike says in those areas  life or property may be endangered due to heavy rains producing major flooding of streams and rain water closing highways and eroding portions of highways, flooding homes, businesses, causing temporary shelters established and schools closed. Spike told WXXI News that he saw a parking lot collapsed, and tractor trailers that were parked  crash into some businesses.

Residents in the Yates County area impacted by flooding who need help from the Red Cross can call 1-877-754-3711.

For the immediate Rochester area, more storms rolled through the area early Thursday, and the rest of the day should see some clouds and more storms by late afternoon.

Several hundred people lost power overnight in parts of Ontario and Wayne Counties, and there were reports of downed trees and power lines and some damaged buildings in the Manchester area.

By Noon, most outages had been repaired.

The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood watch for Monroe and a number of nearby counties including Wayne, Livingston, Cayuga, Ontario and Allegany through Friday evening.  There is a flood warningfor central Yates County through 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

Randy Gorbman is WXXI's director of news and public affairs. Randy manages the day-to-day operations of WXXI News on radio, television, and online.