Video: Rising creeks swallow parts of Tompkins Co. |
Video: Tompkins Co. residents wait for flood waters to recedeDryden (WSYR-TV) - Tompkins County may not have been hit as hard as some of its neighbors in the 607 area code, but many residents woke up on Thursday morning to find an alarming amount of water across their lawns and in their streets.
Synnove Heggory is one of many people who woke up with their backyard creek hundreds of feet closer to their house.
"All this is coming into my yard. This is the first time I've seen it this high," she said.
Throughout Tompkins County, rising creeks posed the biggest threats. One creek grew to surround a home, turning it into an island. Down the road, it swallowed five-foot tall bushes at the Schneider's home in Dryden.
"I'd call it like a lake or something. I'd call it a big huge pond," said Zoe Schneider.
The flooding has put a real damper on Zoe and Gabby's unexpected day off from school.
"We can't go on the trampoline today because it's like three feet deep down there so we can't exactly jump on it," Zoe Schneider said.
In the town of Dryden, creeks weave in and out of yards. So people are ready for floods and know how to help their neighbors
On the other side of Tompkins County, neighbors weren't as prepared. The creek rose so high that basements flooded a few feet. The fire department came in and brought a sump pump but even as late as mid-afternoon on Thursday there was still a substantial amount of water to extract.
"It was up to the bridge, the water was actually up to the locks and bridges. Which is just crazy I've never seen it do anything even resembling that," Helen Kuveke said regarding 6-mile-creek in Ithaca.
Water flooded business parking lots and closed sections of major roads - the runoff often ending in nearby basements.
Resident Marc Dennis had more than two feet of water to pump out of his house.
"I bought these waders, and I haven't used them yet for fly fishing but I've got to tell you they've coming in wildly handy for this flood," said Marc Dennis. "I had never suspected that the water could get that high, no matter how hard it would rain."
