Sarah Gager / WSKG Public Media
Residents at the Kirkwood Motel evacuated as flood waters began to rise
VESTAL, NY (WSKG) – People are still displaced following recent flash floods in New York and Pennsylvania. The Red Cross of the Southern Tier said they sheltered nearly 140 people in several affected counties.
Carol—who gave only her first name—was at the Conklin shelter getting information from volunteers. The Conklin shelter will be shut down at 6:30PM on Saturday.
When the flood waters started to rise, she was at home at the Kirkwood Motel. Kirkwood is about 10 miles southeast of Binghamton. She saw an emergency vehicle go by. Her neighbor yelled “Emergency!” She grabbed her wallet and keys and waded through water to jump in the car.
Sarah Gager / WSKG News
Water damage to the doors and walls of the Kirkwood Motel shows how high the water rose during the flash floods.
The water was nearly as high as her car door. A few neighbors who had left, returned to their motel to make sure everyone got out okay. The next morning, Carol and her landlady went back to assess the damages.
“So the next morning, we went back to the motel. Everything, all the debris and wood and everything, had knocked her fence down. People’s garbage cans were in the yard. Our rooms are destroyed. Totally destroyed.”
Carol says a few of the motel’s residents went to stay at the Del Motel in Binghamton. Some ended up at the YMCA and one woman went to a women’s shelter. Carol plans to stay in Scranton for a little while. Her landlady owns another motel there.
“The hardest part of this is losing what you had, because it adds more of a value to you,” Carol expressed, “But we’ll make it. We’ll make it.”
Because Carol and her neighbors at the motel were a tight-knit community, she hopes they will be reunited.
The Red Cross is distributing recovery materials and food at Five Mile Point fire station in Kirkwood this weekend.