© FacebookCNY flooding Prospect Street in Herkimer, New York, on June 28, 2013.
Flooding fueled by heavy rains has driven hundreds of residents of east-central New York State from their homes in several counties, including Oneida, Chenango, Madison and Herkimer.
Many downtown Oneida streets were inundated on Friday June 28 after the levy along Oneida Creek overflowed, the Oneida Dispatch reported. The water was expected to crest in the early afternoon, said Dave Nicosia of the National Weather Service, speaking to the Dispatch. Oneida creek was at "record levels," he said, up at 16.7 feet, which surpassed the previous record of 15.6 in September 2011.
The Oneida Animal Hospital had to be evacuated as well, and numerous residents were moved to a shelter set up by the Red Cross at the city's armory. In addition severe rainstorms and flooding led the town of Kirkland to declare a state of emergency, the Dispatch reported.
The National Weather Service also warned resident in vulnerable areas along streams and creeks to expect flooding and poor drainage conditions, according to Syracuse.com.
"I haven't seen it this bad since the 1950s," said 71-year-old Joe Salerno to the Dispatch as he watched Oneida Creek overtake his back yard and flow into the cellar of his childhood home, where his son now lives.
Comment: ...and then there were three or four off Nice in the South of France in early June, and another one recently in Louisiana.