Catskill declares emergency meeting after heavy flooding, road erosion

PALENVILLE, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The Town of Catskill held an emergency meeting Wednesday evening, addressing an urgent need for state funding to repair an intersection that continues collapsing from flooding.

Palenville residents said every time they get heavy rain, the intersection of Pine Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue is damaged. They said the water from the creek underneath the road, floods over the road and causes it to collapse. This past week's rainfall, has led to one of the worst road erosion conditions yet.

“Right now it looks like a bomb went off in it, it's got huge holes where the culverts were wiped out and its not even repairable currently, unless there's like new culvert pipes and stuff put in," said Jennifer Killinger, a Palenville resident who lives near the intersection. "That whole area down there floods like its a creek itself, right over the road."

Killinger said this intersection is one she drives through nearly every day. Therefore, the road being closed has made her commutes longer and more difficult, along with other people in the area.

“It’s quicker for me to come that way, coming from work and stuff like that, especially when you're coming from Ulster County," said Killinger.

Palenville resident Linda Brosnan said this has been happening for years, but it has continued to get worse each time. Brosnan said she uses that road constantly.

“Everyday, actually a couple times a day because I'm a school bus driver so I go back and forth to Saugerties," said Brosnan. "And people are afraid to cross it, you know it could fall in."

It's a problem that Catskill Town Supervisor Patrick McCulloch and Deputy Town Supervisor Jared Giordiano are aware of. Giordiano said they've been working to fix it since the clean up efforts of Hurricane Irene.

“Ever since then, the water flow, there's too much water going to that area it needs to be diverted into the main area," said Giordiano.

However, Giordiano said it could cost millions of dollars to repair the road -- money the town doesn't have in its budget. Over the years, they've been putting what neighbors and Giordiano called a "bandaid" on the problem. But now, they are asking the state to step in.

“The town has spent, just fixing it over the last two decades, probably a couple hundred thousands dollars," said Giordiano. "The actual fix is going to be in the millions because ideally, the stream needs to be routed properly, there needs to be burns put in place, a lot of stream engineering has to be done."

The Town of Catskill applied for two state grants and have so far gotten denied both times. Giordiano said there are five residents that have to go through Ulster County to get to Greene County right now. However, if it doesn't get fixed, it's not just these residents that are affected.

“It eliminates rapid response from ambulance services, rapid response from fire department, it cuts them off," said Giordiano.

Neighbors are hoping the town can find a solution sooner rather than later.

"There's got to be a way to go through the streams and see where maybe there's been debris and maybe they can reroute it a little bit," said Killinger. "We need to take the time and the money to fix it in the proper way."

The emergency town board meeting is at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall. Giordiano said they announced an emergency declaration -- hoping to raise awareness and get the money they need from the state.