Oneida County officials say the area was submerged in as much as half a foot of rain over the weekend, and residents are still cleaning up. The worst of it came Saturday when 1.4 inches fell in just 40 minutes time.
Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente says the flooding caused havoc throughout the county and destroyed some homes. At a press conference with state officials in Whitesboro Wednesday, Picente said the county is appropriating nearly $3 million to help homeowners and municipalities recover. The bulk of that is for flood mitigation projects.
"Two million dollars of that funding will go toward mitigation problems in terms of the flooding that has taken place four out of the last three years, I believe, our residents have gone through this. It needs to stop," Picente said. "There are things that need to be fixed. Granted, it was another one of those freak storms, but our people can't go through this anymore."
Those mitigation projects, like the potential construction of detention ponds, have not yet been developed.
New York state has sent 1,600 sandbags to Oneida County and mobile command centers to answer homeowners' financial questions. And, state agencies are reopening roads and helping maintain wastewater treatment plants.
