The Village of Penn Yan is reeling from all of the damage caused by the torrential rain that came through the area overnight. Up to six inches of rain fell within a relatively short period of time.
Mayor Leigh MacKerchar is a lifelong village resident, and tells WXXI News he remembers all of the devastation from the 1972 flooding, (from Hurricane Agnes) but he says this storm was worse.
"We've got some culverts and we had a building that's collapsed and foundations eroded away, major erosions under some of our parking areas and our roads; some of our streets have been washed away, at this point, we're just assessing where we need to start."
MacKerchar says it is too early to even put out an estimate on the cost of all the damage right now, but he says Penn Yan will definitely need help from the state and federal governments.
"There’s no one right now that can even guess the dollar amount on the damages that are done here, we're still finding things as we go, thank God no one was killed or injured."
MacKerchar credits area first responders for working around the clock to help people impacted by the storms.
"We had one policeman that helped get a paraplegic guy out of his home when it was waist-deep water; fortunately we had enough people out there to prevent the loss of life or injury.
MacKerchar says there is concern to make sure crews can assess areas that are still dangerous because of flood damage, since the forecast calls for the potential of heavy rains again later in the week.
