Town blames FEMA for flood bind

By TOM KANE

HORTONVILLE, NY — The government works on theory. The highway department works on reality.

That’s the conclusion of the Town of Delaware highway superintendent, Bill Eschenberg.

“We keep hearing that FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] is going to help us out of the hole we’re in. That’s the theory,” Eschenberg said at the meeting of the town board that was wall-to-wall people on Wednesday, April 20.

“But what do we get? Last September we had a wicked storm that caused a lot of damage—about $50,000 worth,” he said. “We did all the paperwork and sent it in October. And what did we get back six months later, $7,000 that’s all.”

So, the reality is that a town cannot count on FEMA to bail them out of real problems, he said.

FEMA responds

“I don’t know why your highway superintendent would say that unless he put his papers in for something we don’t cover,” said Michael Beeman, FEMA spokesman. “He has the right to appeal any decision we make. We routinely survey a town’s problems with the town officials and sit down with them and work out what we can fund. Then, we fund 75 percent of the approved total and the state funds the remaining 25 percent.”

Turn-around time is very quick if the amount is under $50,000, he said. “Larger amounts may take a little longer.”

Delaware’s budget problems

Eschenberg beat the residents to the punch when he said, “You’re here to ask me to come and solve the problems you’re having with the Callicoon Creek, or the problems you’re having with the streams coming into Hortonville,” he said. “Well, I can’t do a thing to help you. Why? Because I don’t have the budget to do it. I spent it at the last flood, and FEMA doesn’t do anything like they should do.”

Resident after resident told tales about the creeks that swamped their homes, washed away part of their property and flooded their cellars. Many lamented that they could not “get into the creek and clear out the debris and the silt that blocks the creek and forces it to take another direction.”

“You can’t do that because the DEC [the Department of Environmental Conservation] won’t let you,” said board member Kevin Connor. “They tell you that you can’t swat a fly in the creek because it will affect the environmental balance.”

The crowd roared its approval.

“I’d be careful of doing anything to the stream because DEC might come along and declare your backyard a wetland and that would put you into a lot of trouble,” Connor said.

Along with FEMA, the DEC was the subject of a lot of unrestrained criticism.

The DEC’s response

“We are sympathetic toward the loss many have suffered,” said Wayne Elliot, DEC Region III fisheries manager. “Solving the problem of flooded streams that wander isn’t that simple,” he said. “Taking gravel and other blockages from the stream and thinking you’ve corrected the problem is a misconception.”

Elliot explained that DEC allowed residents to clean out a culvert or remove blockages from around bridges. “We’ve given out some permits to individuals to clear parts of streams,” he said.

Elliot described a scenario in which a stream can have 50,000 cubic feet of water passing a point every second, which can easily happen in a storm. “Imagine that if you cleaned out any gravel that may impede the stream, then the water rushes like in a funnel, going downstream with greater and greater force and doing considerable damage at the end point.”

A suggested solution

Eschenberg’s solution was to raise taxes and give the highway department more money to work with.

”Hold on!” said Connor. “People are reeling already because taxes are too high, especially people of fixed income like many seniors.”

Connor reminded people that the school tax could go up 18 percent. “Raising taxes is not the answer,” he said.

What is the answer? Pray for less rain, someone said from the back of the hall.