Fear of Water Pouring Over Dam Leads To Evacuations

Fears that water would be pouring uncontrolled over the Lake DeForest dam in West Nyack this morning because of heavy rain from Hurricane Irene led Clarkstown officials to order the mandatory evacuation of residents in the area immediately south of the dam.

Clarkstown Police Chief Michael Sullivan said six town officers spent hours last night going through West Nyack neighborhoods, using the public address systems on their police cars to broadcast evacuation messages.

Clarkstown Town Supervisor Alex Gromack said he issued the mandatory evacuation order as a life-saving precaution after he and other town officials met with United Water New York officials and the state Department of Environmental Conservation commissioner for an inspection of the Lake DeForest dam, located just off Old Mill Road in West Nyack.

The state Department of Transportation also closed Route 59 in West Nyack Sunday night before Hurricane Irene hit as a precaution, with state workers anticipating the section of state highway at the Palisades Center mall would flood like it has repeatedly this year.

In Stony Point, the town also had mandatory evacuations in the Grassy Point area, east of the CSX rail line, along the Hudson River.

In Clarkstown, soon after Gromack issued the evacuation order for West Nyack he also signed an order that ban travel on roads in Clarkstown until 6 p.m. today. Gromack said only emergency workers, highway crews and those who must be on the road to provide essential services can be on the roads. The order also requires businesses throughout the town to stay closed until 6 p.m. — although businesses like hotels and motels that are providing a source of shelter for residents are not subject to the order.

“People should stay in their homes and stay off the roads,” said Gromack late Sunday night.

Gromack said the town wants to avoid having to send emergency workers out to rescue motorists stranded in flood waters.

Before midnight, the heavy rains that were hitting Rockland County had only caused a handful of minor incidents, including down power lines, according to police. However, this morning police are finding down lines and trees throughout the county.

In addition to police on had for the storm, volunteer firefighters throughout Rockland County were on standby at local firehouses and state, county and town highway crews had their equipment positioned and ready to go to cope with problems related to the storm as it comes to New York this morning.

The storm prompted the opening of emergency shelters at Rockland Community College and Nyack High School, with local emergency reception centers at town halls and community centers throughout Rockland, including Street Community Center in New City and Congers Community Center.

Flood Worries

On Sunday afternoon, Clarkstown issued a voluntary evacuation notice for residents of West Nyack south of the Lake DeForest dam. Sullivan said that some families heeded the voluntary notice, but evacuations did not really kick in until the town issued the mandatory evacuation order around 9 p.m.

Sullivan said that police were finding most residents were cooperating with the order, although they were finding a few residents who wanted to stay with their homes during the storm.

The mandatory evacuation order came after the dam inspection and concerns expressed by United Water New York, which operates the Lake DeForest reservoir, that Hurricane Irene was going to add so much water to the reservoir in a short time that the company could not control the amount of water released into the Hackensack River from the Lake DeForest dam.

The Hackensack snakes through West Nyack, crosses under Route 59, and then winds its way through Orangetown to New Jersey.

United Water spokesman Steven Goudsmith said the company, with state DEC permission, started releasing millions of gallons of water beyond its normal releases from the reservoir in anticipation of the storm. Because of heavy rains, the reservoir was at about 100 percent of its capacity.

Goudsmith said that the company also took less water from other water sources so it could draw more water from Lake DeForest to feed the area’s water supply system. With the release of about 70 million gallons of water, Goudsmith said the reservoir was at 98.8 percent capacity Sunday.

With the addition of about 5 to 6 inches of rain, Goudsmith said United Water would have to issue a “dam advisory,” indicating large amounts of water would be released from the reservoir. If the area is hit with 10 or more inches of rain, Goudsmith said United Water would have to consider issuing a “dam warning” — meaning that there would be uncontrolled releases of water coming from the reservoir.

Goudsmith said United Water engineers have been monitoring the reservoir and dam closely this week in anticipation of Hurricane Irene and by Thursday had reached the decision that additional water needed to be released to protect the integrity of the dam during the storm.

Goudsmith said United Water has managers, engineers and technicians working throughout the storm to monitor the dam and its operation.

Roads blocked

As Hurricane Irene approaches, the storm has led to the postponement of many events that had been scheduled for today and even the Palisades Center mall in West Nyack is closed today.

Police said that in addition to Route 59 in West Nyack being closed, flooding has closed a section of Route 9W in Congers, Valley Cottage and Upper Nyack. Local streets throughout the county are also flooded, including sections of New Hempstead Road in New City.

Volunteer firefighters have been responding to a variety of emergency calls throughout the night, including false alarms set off by the heavy rains. Emergency officials have asked that the public not use 911 to call for questions or concerns about minor issues — reserving that number for life-threatening situations. Officials said routine questions can be directed to local police departments, which are serving as the local emergency command centers.

Power Outages

The Orange and Rockland Utilities Stormcenter shows the company has 183 outages as of 6:15 a.m., affecting more than 25,000 of its customers. More than 9,600 customers are without power in Rockland County, according to O&R. Of that number, 6,200 of those customers are in Clarkstown – primarily in New City and in West Nyack.

About 60 customers are without power in the Nyack area, with and another 130 without power in the area of Piermont and Tappan.