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Torrential thunderstorms barreled into West Point and the Highland Falls community creating a flash flood July 9 that left New York State's Hudson Valley inundated with flooded homes and impassable roads.
The flood overwhelmed bridges, basements and various infrastructures with an estimated 3.5 inches of precipitation each hour. Videos and photos showed the flood turning Thayer Road into a river, and New York Route 218, known for its breathtaking vistas of the Hudson River, is now inaccessible due to a massive landslide caused by the flood.
New York Route 9W also incurred damages. However, the Department of Transportation managed to repair the road in less than three days.
West Point Garrison Command took immediate action to mitigate the damage the flood had caused in multiple homes throughout the West Point community, with the Directorate of Public Works wasting no time as they continue to work on clearing a network of roads and storm drainage of debris throughout the U.S. Military Academy.
On July 12, community members gathered at the Eisenhower Hall Ballroom to participate in the Community Leader Information Forum. During the CLIF, the Superintendent, Lt. Gen. Steven Gilland; West Point Garrison Commander, Col. Anthony Bianchi; Keller Army Community Hospital Commander, Col. Briana Perata; and the USMA Command Sergeant Major - Command Sgt. Maj. Phil Barretto, conducted a panel discussion along with other leaders of the community.
"We're going to focus a lot on what occurred Sunday, and what's happened over the course of the past couple of days," Gilland said. "As we look to the future on some of the different recovery efforts, understand it's going to take some time. You don't fill in giant holes and repair bridges overnight.
" ... I absolutely understand frustrations will start to climb," Gilland continued. " ... But we all got to get to a point where we need to take a step back and take a deep breath."
Gilland added that assessments will continue across the installation to ensure that all of the housing, infrastructure, roads, dams and network capabilities are stable and safe.
Bianchi opened his remarks with how appreciative he is of the positivity and patience from the community despite the amount of flooding and provided guidance on how the community can coordinate relief efforts.
"I get a lot of queries on (helping and volunteering). Talking (with Superintendent Lt. Gen. Steven Gilland), the guidance going forward is to start with your neighbors," Bianchi said. "Help them out whether you live on post or live off post, ask them what they need, help them clean their basement."
Community members living at Band and Lee housing experienced some of the worst effects of the flood when rushing water barreled down Washington Road and crossed over to homes along Bailey Loop, Barry Road and Barnard Loop, where basements suffered from water damage.
On Sunday at 3:05 p.m., Master Sgt. Michael Reifenberg received a group text from his next-door neighbor. The message addressed multiple families along Bailey Loop, asking if their driveway drains were holding up against the flood.
"I replied at 3:07 p.m. after having checked – they were keeping up OK. At 3:12 p.m., only five minutes after visually inspecting my drains, they were beginning to overflow," Reifenberg said. "I suspect it was within that five minutes that Washington Road began overflowing into our neighborhood."
He added two minutes after noticing the overflowing drains, water started entering his basement through both the outside door leading from the driveway into the house and the door leading from the garage into the basement.
"At 3:21 p.m., the neighbor on the far end of the block said his drain was backing up," Reifenberg explained. "About 30 minutes into the flooding, water in our basement was already past the second step of our interior staircase. In my basement, it peaked just shy of waist high for me (about three feet)."
Unfortunately, water damage toppled everything in the Reifenberg home, including shelves and plastic bins.
"After the water receded, there was a significant layer of mud, which a maintenance worker warned the following day likely also contained sewage," he added.
Ellissa Eby, a community member at Band Housing, spent most of her time helping her neighbors after clearing her basement of water damage.
"I was out here at 9:30 p.m. on Sunday helping them relieve their drain because I've been here 16 years, and I know where the drains flow out to," she said. "I live straight across from my neighbor on the other side of Bailey. My home has a flatter driveway, so the water came in, but it only reached about 8-10 inches. When I pulled up to their home, I saw the water pouring in there. I knew my neighbors were going to deal with bigger problems."
Emergency services personnel went above and beyond to ensure that community members were safe and received proper guidance on how to get home when the flood initially hit.
Bianchi urged workers who drove through Route 293 to adhere to safety protocols on the road to prevent severe injuries. He also mentioned that the task force is utilizing the route to train cadets during Cadet Summer Training.
"We put some signage out there to remind folks that we put some law enforcement patrols on the detours on post as well to mitigate the speeding on the detours there as well," Bianchi said. "We have also contacted Woodbury and the Town of Highlands Police to help us out.
" ... Tangential to that is the range roads and a lot of folks like to take shortcuts to get around because they have Google now," he added. "I ask that you do not do that ... not all the range roads have been assessed, so there is damage out there. So it's not only a safety hazard to the troops in training, it is a safety hazard to you driving your vehicle on those ranges."
Initially, on Sunday afternoon, the West Point Fire Department collaborated with the Highland Falls Fire Department to rescue trapped occupants when the flood plowed through the community. Additionally, within 72 hours into the rescue efforts, the WPFD responded to 80-plus emergency incidents on and off West Point grounds.
"Our team members assisted in the initial damage assessments of the entire installation, developing safe routes for emergency responders and critical assets/team members to transit safely," said the Deputy Chief of the West Point Fire Department, Matthew Woods. "We assisted West Point DPW with numerous pump outs of several structures across the installation."
As emergency services, West Point leadership and the rest of the community band together to repair the damages left from the flood, plans and protocols are still being developed to prepare for future storms and flash floods.
" ... It is a community effort holistically throughout the entire region and we got to make sure that we're looking at it and approaching it in that manner," Gilland said. "Also, shout out to all of our emergency services and that's both on and off post.
"People were working around the clock sacrificing time with their families in order to do their jobs to help others ... that's our law enforcement, firefighter services and our (Emergency Medical Technicians) etc. And so, again, thanks," he added. "Thanks to you all for what you do every single day and have done for the community over the past couple of days, having direct impacts on saving lives."
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