Elmont Online

FULTON -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo toured areas flooded during Tropical Storm Irene by helicopter Monday, bringing a regional administrator from the Federal Emergency Management Agency along to show her the depth of the area's suffering.

Cuomo took the trip as areas downstate slowly returned to normalcy. In contrast to New York City, he said along a washed-out road in Schoharie County, "this is a different story, and we're paying a terrible price."

Traveling west from the Albany County airport, Cuomo's helicopter circled around Schenectady, where the Stockade neighborhood and Schenectady County Community College were submerged and the Freemans Bridge rendered impassable by the rising Mohawk River. He continued along its bed past Amsterdam to the union with the Schoharie Creek, before turning.

This rural valley was devastated. Cuomo showed FEMA's Lynn Canton broken fields, washed out roads and leveled houses. The helicopter circled the Gilboa Dam, where a frothing reservoir spilled over the concrete embankment.

"I wanted to have FEMA see this firsthand, because we're going to need federal assistance," Cuomo said, after touching down in a soccer field in the town of Fulton just after noon. "For both the private economic loss -- farms, businesses et cetera -- as well as the economic loss to the state -- the roads, the bridges."

He could not say how much aid is needed. Middleburgh Supervisor Dennis Richards estimated there was up to $3 million of just road damage in his town.

"I have residents in my community that have been here 76 years, that I spent the night with in the shelter, who said they've never seen anything like it. We had probably 150 people in one shelter last night," Richards said.

Brian Devlin, who commands the local volunteer fire company, said his crews rescued more than 15 people Sunday. "Off rooftops, cars, wherever," said his brother Michael, the assistant chief.

Canton said the current emergency declaration allowed for direct federal assistance to New York City, Long Island, and 10 counties south of Albany. It does not include Schenectady County.

"It's hard to tell right now, but certainly the way that river is flooding, my guess would be yes," she said, asked of the chances for its extension there.

The state had requested pre-storm aid from FEMA and formally requested more aid Monday.

Cuomo said preparations in the area were adequate "even in hindsight." The National Guard mobilized, and state resources were deployed to key counties. Still.

"These were just record flood levels," he said. "The bridge we were just on? The water had to be 10 feet over the bridge. The record flood is going to wreak havoc. I think a lot of preparation was done here also, but it's a record flood and the flood is going to do damage."

"Mother Nature, at the end of the day, trumps all," Cuomo said.

Reach Vielkind at 454-5081 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .