‘This is horrible’: Prattsburgh couple shares struggle with flooding
PRATTSBURGH, N.Y. — A couple says their yard took a hit Friday after they had invested thousands of dollars into its upkeep over the years.
They shared video of the flash flooding — including the moment the two were on opposite sides of the flooded road in Prattsburgh in Steuben County, a couple of miles from the Naples border.
“Oh my God, this is horrible. I looked outside and I couldn’t even get out my front door. And the whole thing was coming at the camper. And I had my kitties in there. All the water and the mud and these big trees. I just grabbed them, put them in their crates, and I hauled to my truck. Put my boots on real quick. It was awful. And then I finally got the truck out. I had called her: ‘Doll, are you-‘ ‘No, I’m not alright.'” said Deborah Van Orman.
“This happened in the spring, y’know. And every time it rains it goes all into our yard because there’s a sewage pipe where those guys are standing,” Leslie Svoboda, Van Orman’s partner, said.
Svoboda says she saw VanOrman stuck between two flash floods and had to go back to Route 53 to try to get to her.
“The third video is of me contacting my daughter, who’s an ER nurse at Ira Davenport (hospital in Bath) to let her know I was safe. But our beautiful property was under water from all the water coming down the hills,” Svoboda said.
Their home is still habitable, as most of the damage is external — but the two are staying with a relative Friday night.
Fire crews from the town of Prattsburgh have been out talking with folks and helping assess damage. The governor says crews from the New York State Department of Transportation are patrolling and assisting municipalities with storm response.
Further south in Steuben County, three hamlets and part of a village have been evacuated. The county evacuated Woodhull along Tuscarora Creek due to flash flooding; Jasper due to leaking propane storage tanks as the result of flooding; Campbell near the Cohocton River; and the south side of the village of Addison along the Tuscarora River.