Tuesday, August 30, 2011

In the Wake of Irene

We were squarely in the path of Hurricane Irene last Sunday. She dumped more than twelve inches of rain on us in less than 24 hours, the most rain since the epic floods in 1973 and 1927.

Luckily it didn’t flood our basement, but it knocked down a few trees in our neighborhood and turned the stream below our house into a raging river.

One place that really got hit hard was in nearby Windham, New York, where the Batavia Kill jumped its banks and headed down Main Street.


The old church, part of which is now a library, is visible on the far side of the bridge. The town is currently cut off from electricity.


I did a plein air painting there a few years ago. Main Street, which ran like a fast river, is the road in front of that green-roofed building, which happens to be a gallery called Windham Fine Arts.



Here's a photo of me painting a few years back, right on the spot that was churning with water on Sunday.


Above is a video compilation of flood drama in the Catskills.

 The flood photo of Windham is from "My Distractions."
Direct link to YouTube video of the flood.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

All human life is precious, and in spite of all human losses during the hurricane, I'm happy you and your own are ok.

As selfish as it may be, it'd be a huge loss for all aspiring artists to lose someone like you to look up to :(

Anonymous said...

Is that a house being swept away in the waters??

Unknown said...

James, thanks for posting. In Pennsylvania, we had wind, flooding and we lost power for 2 days. Fortunately, that's the worst of it for us.

Sling paint!
Virgil Carter

My Pen Name said...

i was surprised how much damage and flooding was upstate here in the city it was ho-hum... not even trees knocked down in my neighborhood( last year several no account storms did that)

Hope things are better up there.

Unknown said...

Great photo's and great painting. I'm glad you are ok!

Ernest Friedman-Hill said...

Really glad you're OK. Here in western Maryland, Irene was much ado about nothing.

Carol Scown-Raynal said...

We all were, here in France, thinking of you folks during those long hours of hurricane Irene. We're glad to know you're OK but we of course think of all these people who have to reconstruct. Americans are strong to reconstruct, they always go ahead. God bless you.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi James .. glad all is well - so much damage from the rains .. the power of water.

I love your plein air painting ..it's just gorgeous ..

Thanks and have a good week - I hope your neighbourhood can get back to 'normal'. Hilary

Anonymous said...

Thank goodness you're ok. I hope things will be back to normal soon.
Also hope that the animals in the farm are ok.

E.Tiemens said...

Wow Jim,
Crazy amounts of rain. My wife's family in CT are still without power as are so many on the East coast. I'm glad your place is intact and ok.

Best,
Erik

E.Tiemens said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Marc Is My Hero! said...

Glad you guys are okay, James! I went up to Pittsfield, Vermont for my own wedding. The wedding on Saturday was perfect but Sunday the storm hit, crumbling the rodas and bridges in either direction, effectively stranding us for a week. Luckily me and the 60 wedding guests that didnt make it out of town were so well taken care of by the generosity of the people up there. Its such an amazing community. We missed our honeymoon flight but luckily were able to rebook for this Saturday... So I will still get to do some artwork on the Kalalau Trail!!! I Hope Rhinebeck has a speedy recovery. All the Best.

Marc Evan