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State Homeland Security deploys AquaDam in Saranac Lake

Owner of the Warehouse Plaza on Woodruff Street in Saranac Lake Bill Rich, right, helps members of the state division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services pack sand bags on to the AquaDam along the Saranac River. (Enterprise photo — Griffin Kelly)

SARANAC LAKE — The state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services provided aid to this village in the form of sandbags, a sandbagging machine and an AquaDam Friday after Saranac Lake declared a state of emergency Thursday because of rising water levels in the Saranac River and other water bodies.

“Right now Franklin County has taken about 5,000 sandbags available from the state stockpile in Plattsburgh for strategic locations along the river,” said DHSES Public Information Officer Kristen Devoe. “It will protect some of the critical infrastructure as well as help with the businesses here.”

Members of the Saranac Lake Volunteer Fire Department, DHSES, the Office of Fire Prevention and Control and Franklin and Essex counties emergency services were on the scene at the Warehouse Plaza on Woodruff Street at 1:30 p.m., installing the AquaDam. The AquaDam is pretty much a really large bag filled with thousands of pounds of water. It works like a barricade and keeps water from rising onto land.

Bill Rich, who owns the Warehouse Plaza, was helping the crews unfold the AquaDam and place sandbags on it.

There was no water damage to the plaza at 2:30 p.m., but Rich said the building was not far from it.

Members of the state division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services pack sand bags on to the AquaDam along the Saranac River. (Enterprise photo — Griffin Kelly)

AccuWeather predicted thunderstorms for 5 p.m. with a 52 percent chance of precipitation.

“They keep talking about it and I hope it passes by,” Rich said. “If it’s a three-hour rain storm and it’s torrential, yeah, we’re going to have problems, but if it’s a quick thunderstorm and goes through, we’ll probably survive it.”

At approximately 7:00 p.m. Saranac Lake was hit with a quick thunderstorm. Rain water fell on the opposite side of the AquaDam in the parking lot, and fire crews had to pump it back into the river.

Governor Andrew Cuomo also released a tornado warning in the Capital Region, Mohawk Valley and North Country until 10 p.m. Friday.

“Tornadoes can be difficult to predict, so it is important to be ready now and know what actions to take if a tornado strikes in your areas,” Gov. Cuomo said in press release.

Rich has been at the location for 40 years and said massive floods aren’t common for his business.

“It’s been like this only three or four times,” he said. “As soon as the water reaches about 10 or 15 feet into the driveway, then the shops start taking on water.”

Rich said this week’s flooding was nothing close to the flooding in the spring of 2011, which closed multiple roads, warranted a state of emergency for more than 10 days and damaged the village’s wastewater treatment plant, sending partially-treated sewage downstream.

“We were pumping water out of the last store down here for 13 days straight, 24-7,” Rich said. “We also had a pump outside, pumping water over 4 feet of sandbags.”

One of the main concerns with house and building flooding is mold. Rich said it’s hard to avoid.

“It doesn’t take much for black mold to get started,” he said. “Just a little moisture.”

Saranac Lake Fire Chief Brandon Keough said at 2:30 p.m. there was “just moderate flooding,” saying buildings along the river such as the Fiddlehead Bistro, the Dew Drop Inn, Scott’s Florist and the Left Bank Cafe are the places that tend to get hit first.

“The water levels appear to be slowly rising,” he said.

Keough said the village Department of Public Works was working with the state Department of Environmental Conservation, regulating the water flow at the Lake Flower dam, but he hadn’t received any official reports on water levels at that time.

Keough also said the hamlet of Bloomingdale in the town of St. Armand still had Moose Pond Road closed, and that DHSES was monitoring it.

In a phone interview Friday, St. Armand Supervisor Dean Montroy said the water level of Moose Pond Road no longer seemed to be rising at 5:30 p.m.

As for other areas in Bloomingdale, Montroy said, “I’m sure there are other people having problems with basements,” he said, “but the flooding is really just Moose Pond Road. It happens pretty much every spring. We were lucky to have had that one thaw back in February otherwise it could’ve been worse.”

Montroy said it could take 2 to 4 weeks before the water fully recedes from the road, and that one of the main concerns is whether the water will undermine the pavement.

Keough said throughout Friday the fire department had been removing debris and logs from that river that could potentially disturb the Lake Flower dam.

The Enterprise was unable to reach Saranac Lake village manager John Sweeney for comment.

“We’re urging people to use caution and stay off the river,” Keough said. “We had a few kayakers in the river earlier — no [personal flotation devices], no cold water suits. We had a report of three kayakers, one who overturned in Lake Flower and was rescued by DEC.”

Keough also advised people to not use gas-powered motors to pump water out of their basements. Gas pumps create the odorless, tasteless and deadly gas carbon-monoxide.

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