Flash Flood in Yates County, New York

Catastrophic flash flooding was occurring in the downtown area of the Village of Penn Yan. Jacobs Brook became a raging torrent of water as it traveled into, and under the center of the village. The hardest hit areas were in the vicinity of Elm Street and Champlin Avenue where roads buckled, parking lots caved in, and the Owl's Nest Community Center collapsed. Tractor-trailer container boxes were seen floating down the streets, where they collided into the Wagner restaurant causing significant structural damage. Foundations of several homes were washed away during the flood.

A total of seven towns and one village reported significant roadway damages. In most cases, the damages were related to either shoulder wash-outs or significant debris buildup on roadways. In one case, the road was fully washed out. several other roads had deep, newly formed pot holes/voids. In addition to roadway damage, there were several cases of mass wasting and sediment transport. In the Town of Middlesex, one home had soil and debris build-up as high as the door knob level. Another area along South Lake Road had the downward movement of an entire portion of a hillside with localized water damages to several homes. A voluntary evacuation was in place for the area along South Lake Road. Some of the harder hit areas included Barrington, Benton, Italy, Jerusalem, Middlesex, and Penn Yan.

Very heavy rainfall from slow-moving thunderstorms caused flash flooding of small streams leading to numerous road closures in southeast Yates County. Rainfall amounts were on the order of 3 to 4 inches in a 3 hour period. Several roads were undermined and damaged by the flood waters. At one point most roads in the village of Dundee, and the towns of Barrington and Starkey were either closed or impassable.