Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Rondout Creek at Rosendale, NY

I still don't have power at home this Tuesday evening (it went out Saturday night).  Lots of communities here in Ulster County hard hit by Irene with flooding and loss of electric from tree limbs.

An initial look at the USGS stream gaging station data from the Rondout Creek at Rosendale, NY (right down the road from me) confirmed my initial suspicions when I saw it raging Sunday afternoon.  The peak discharge on the 28th was recorded as 36,500 cfs or cubic feet per second (prior to the storm it was running a bit over 400 cfs).  That beats the record back in 1955 (when the town flooded instigating the flood control measures taken shortly thereafter) of 35,800 cfs.  I looked at continuous records back to 1927 (the record is spotty prior to then). This truly was a 100 year flood event.

More analysis to follow when I get better Internet access than Starbucks WiFi (I'd like to look at records for Esopus and Wallkill Rivers also).

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