TRR photo by Jill Padua The rush of water over the Little Lake Erie bridge washed out part of the roadway on the Irish Hill side of the bridge. (Click for larger image)

By TOM KANE

COCHECTON & TUSTEN - The rains came last Saturday-as much as eight inches in four hours.

"It was the worst downpour I've ever seen," said Town of Tusten Supervisor Richard Crandall.

Hardest hit were the towns of Tusten and Cochecton in western Sullivan County.

"This morning and yesterday our highway crews were fixing critical roads that people frequently use and were repairing several drive- ways of elderly couples who weren't able to get off their properties," Crandall said on Tuesday.

"We had three dams break down and another that was half destroyed," said Tusten Highway Superintendent Skip Feagles. The dams were located at Perry Pond, Cortese Pond, Macri's Pond and-the one half destroyed-Hankins Pond.

	TRR photo by Jim Spencer The upstream side of the historic stone arch bridge at Ten Mile River was heavily damaged as the river flowed over and around it on Saturday. (Click for larger image)

The permit process for rebuilding dams is a long one, he said.

One of the victims of the storm was the stone arch bridge at the Ten Mile Settlement, south of Narrowsburg. The arches are still intact but the road surface and walls were heavily damaged.

"It's a real tragedy to see what the waters did to the old bridge," said Sullivan County Department of Public Works Commissioner Peter Lilholt. "I think it will be next to impossible to reconstruct it to look the way it did before."

"We're going to replace that historic bridge whatever it takes," Crandall said at the monthly town board meeting on Monday.

Lilholt said county officials estimate the damage to be in the millions. Tusten damage alone was estimated at $1 to 1.5 million, Feagles said.

	TRR photo by Tom Kane Joe Wagner of Brooklyn watches water cut a ditch across Nobody Road north of Narrowsburg. (Click for larger image)

"We're assessing all the damage as well and as quickly as we can so we can give a true picture to FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency)," Lilholt said.

"Commissioner Lilholt and Legislator Rodney Gaebel have set up a meeting with the New York State Emergency Management Organization (SEMO) and the FEMA for 7:00 p.m. Tuesday evening at the town court in Bethel," said county spokesman Lee Bosco.

"It's going to be very difficult to pay for this damage if we don't get federal assistance," Lilholt said.

Lilholt said that 75 staff members were working in the afflicted area along with the Tusten and Cochecton town highway departments, as well as workers from the Towns of Highland and Lumberland.

All during Sunday, crews were putting in masses of rock and surge stone along the rutted shoulders and ditches of roads that were eaten away, Lilholt said.

	TRR photo by David Hulse Sullivan County Department of Public Works crews worked through the weekend to reopen flood-damaged County Road 23 after runoff gouged out ditches, destroying about a half-mile of shoulder and pavement. (Click for larger image)

One highway that was especially hit hard was a stretch of County Road 23 at "Mile Hill" south of Narrowsburg. The newly resurfaced highway was closed between Route 97 and the Crystal Lake Road intersection until Sunday evening. "We fixed it as quickly as we could so traffic could use it," he said.

The flood started when the rain fell on hills already saturated from earlier storms and runoff, glutted streams and rivulets. Two roads off Route 97, Ackerman and Nobody Roads-had deep ravines cut into their surfaces by water gushing under the railroad tracks.

Closed during the height of the storm were Route 97 north of Narrowsburg, County Road 23 to Yulan, the Cochecton-Newburgh Turnpike from Fosterdale, Route 52 between Fosterdale and Lake Huntington and Pump Station Road between Lake Huntington and Route 97. The lower end of Main Street was flooded and closed when a tree blocked the sluiceway on Little Lake Erie caused water to flow over the bridge.