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Several years ago -- maybe even 10 -- I felt it necessary to establish a website about building expansion at Schoharie school so I did that, and called it the Tattler. I was thinking of Addison and Steele's Tatler, published a few hundred years ago in London.

We shook things up a little, the school quieted down, and we discontinued the Tattler. Then, at the end of 2005, the Gilboa Dam crisis erupted and we started the Code Orange web site, later called Gilboa Dam Watcher. As we were phasing that out, the quarry issue erupted, the village decided to diddle unfair water rates to benefit owners of apartment buildings at expense of single-family homes, and the new school superintendent decided there could be yet another building project, this at "no cost" to residents. In the circumstances, I decided to reestablish the Tattler.

Lester E. Hendrix,
PO Box 711,
Schoharie NY 12157

Lester@SchoharieTattler.com
Coming Events
Archives January-May 2009
Archives from 15 May 2009
Weather and Flood Update
12 March 2010

The Friday morning forecast is predicting continued warm temperatures and a fairly good rain on Saturday night. The forecast for Hunter, in the reservoir headwaters area, is for up to two inches of rain. Much of the deep snow in the mountains has compacted but little has actually run off yet.

This means we could well see some flooding. My guess is that the flooding is not likely until Monday or later, due to the time it takes for the water to make its way downstream into the creek and reservoir, and the twenty feet of space in the reservoir.

Note that at 8 a.m. Friday, the hydrograph shows the reservoir rising faster than the prediction. Also, after holding at 1,111 feet most of the week it is creeping up to 1,112 feet.

If you are not familiar with our capacities and processes, you should know that this reservoir has the largest rain catchment area per cubic foot capacity of all the New York City reservoirs --much larger than most-- and a good rainfall in the mountains can fill that twenty feet of space it in a day. Additionally, the record flood of 1996 occurred when rain came as and warm weather melted a large snowpack. We are told the snowpack was greater a week or so ago than it was in1996.

It is time to review your evacuation routes, be sure your go bag is ready, and check over your communications. If you live in Schoharie Valley along any of the major streams, call your county emergency management office, give them your location and discuss flood emergency procedures.

Schoharie County: 518-295-2276
Montgomery County: 518-853-4011

Useful websites:
Schoharie County Emergency Management:
http://www.schohariecounty-ny.gov/CountyWebSite/EmergencyManagement/floods.html

Montgomery County Emergency Management:
http://www.co.montgomery.ny.us/emo/gilboadam/

My Site: http://www.schoharietattler.com/GDI.html

In 1996, two men died in the flood here. In both the 1955 and 1996 floods, boats were used on Main Street in Schoharie and Middleburgh. WATCH THE WEATHER AND THE WARNING SIGNS CLOSELY for the next few days.

And last: Q: What is the likelihood that the dam will break?  A: Slim to none, and if it does, the water will already be so high downstream that anyone in the path will have already drowned, fled, or be in dire straits. Like five to ten feet on Main Street Middleburgh and Schoharie before the dam breaks. Don't worry about the dam breaking. Worry about getting your hide long gone before the dam breaks. Dam failure is a red herring.