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Heavy Rain Causes Flooding in Cortlandt, Croton

CORTLANDT, N.Y. — Though tropical storm Irene was no longer a hurricane when it ripped through Cortlandt early Sunday morning, many areas are currently underwater, with roughly six inches of rain that fell during the storm. Now, the Croton Dam is alive with onlookers and the thunderous roar of water rushing over the overflow wall. Trees and power lines litter the Cortlandt streets as of Sunday afternoon.

“It really got to blowing around 2 a.m.,” said Lynn Coyne, a 28-year Croton resident, “It’s wild right now,” she said as she stood on top of the dam. Winds were sustained at 40 miles per hour last night, with some higher gusts, according to the Town of Cortlandt.

As of 4:30 p.m., ConEdison reported approximately 1,361 Cortlandt and 185 Croton customers without power. The town’s Emergency Operations Center will be operating out of the town hall until Sunday at 4 p.m., and the town has coordinated with the county to report much of the storm damage.

A Bronx resident, Liz O’Brian, said she thought the storm would hit the Bronx worse, and so she stayed with friends in Putnam Valley. But it “turns out we got it here,” she said. O’Brian added that Sunday “turned out to be a sunny, beautiful day,” despite that their house was still without power at 2 p.m. on Sunday. O’Brian came to the dam out of curiosity to take some photos, she said. “We’re not the only ones with that idea,” O’Brian said looking around at the crowd of people on the dam.

There is no Beeline Bus Service today, no Metro-North trains, Westchester County Parkways are closed, and the county airport remains closed according to a release from the Town of Cortlandt just before 2 p.m.

The town’s Red Cross approved shelter at the Community Center on Westbrook Drive will remain open until 10 a.m. Monday morning.

All parks in Croton remain closed, Senasqua Park has been severely flooded. There was flooding at the Croton train station this morning, because high tide and the storm surge arrived at approximately the same hour in the early morning, but the flooding has now subsided and the train tracks and parking lot appear to once again be above water.

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