Huntersland Road reopens to traffic

6/26/2013

By David Avitabile

The roads are open and most of the clean-up is done from the flash flood that struck Middleburgh, Schoharie and other areas of Schoharie County on the afternoon of June 14.
The last county road to reopen was Huntersland Road on Friday afternoon, according to Dan Crandell, the county commissioner of public works.
Though open, Huntersland Road will need more attention, as will other county roads, Mr. Crandell added.
A slope failure, which brought down several large trees, closed Huntersland Road for several days. Water is coming out of the rock and ground and the slope is failing, Mr. Crandell said, and it could get worse if there is more heavy rain.
"Right now, we're keeping our eye on it."
Barricades are on the site and officials will try to control the uphill water, but that may not be easy, Mr. Crandell explained.
"Stabilizing a slope like that is a little bit of a crap shoot. You can only do so much with Mother Nature."
In addition to Huntersland Road, the public works department, along with other agencies, is looking at improving drainage at several other sites, he added.
Among those areas are: a culvert on Clauverwie heading out of the village, the culvert by Wells Avenue and Main Street, three or four areas on Beards Hollow Road in the Town of Richmondville, and portions of Cotton Hill Road, Barton Hill Road, and Windy Ridge Road.
The storm work has pushed back summer work for the county crews, according to Mr. Crandell.
"Overall, it's setting us back three, four weeks from our summer work. We'll work it in."
After more than two feet of water rushed down Main Street and onto the back streets, it took a few days for the county, village and town crews, residents and business owners to clean up in the Village of Middleburgh.
"Within a couple of days, most of Middleburgh was working pretty well," according to deputy Mayor Tom Gruning.
There is still mud here and there, but most of the streets and sidewalks have been cleared and cleaned, he added.
A main problem is the culvert that leads under the high school which plugged up forcing storm water to gush down Main Street and Wells Avenue.
The school, Dr. Gruning added, has to clean the tunnel but is waiting for a study on it.
Assemblyman Peter Lopez said Monday that village, town, county, and state agencies are meeting to improve the drainage in that area.