Over a year after the July 9, 2023 storm dumped four to eight inches of rain on the region, the communities of Cornwall and Cornwall-on-Hudson are still navigating through the remediation process. The town, village and even Black Rock Forest have outstanding projects that won’t see completion until at least next year.

The topography and already saturated ground, as well as the amount of rain which fell in a short amount of time, forced town and village officials to call a state of emergency as roadways, bridges, culverts, buildings and homes suffered damage.

Much of the roadwork and embankment stabilization has been completed in the town, but larger scale projects are still going through the design and permitting process, said Supervisor Josh Wojehowski.

Projects include the replacement of the bridge on Boulevard, as well as culverts on Long Hill Road and Jackson Avenue, the latter of which received a $1.197 million grant from the state.

Wojehowski expects to have final engineering designs, for the bridge and culverts, completed by the fall, allowing the town to go out to bid and have work start in the spring. The goal is to have one contractor bid on multiple projects.

The hope was to begin tackling these repairs sooner, but the supervisor said when dealing with funding from FEMA, the town was handcuffed by the federal agency’s timeline.

“You don’t want to under-design a bridge that’s not going to meet the future anticipated severe rain events,” Wojehowski said. “You want to make sure you design a bridge that can handle the storms we’re getting so we don’t have to come back and do it again.”

Also in the works are two hazard mitigation projects on Continental Road, one going back to Hurricane Ida three years ago. The Hasbrouck Avenue drainage project is also slated to begin later this year.

Beyond municipal infrastructure, five homes on Hasbrouck Avenue and one on Clara Avenue have been approved for the USDA’s home buyout project. Wojehowski explained the USDA determined the six homes are located in a floodplain and the best option would be to help the town acquire the properties. The supervisor said each of the homeowners is interested, but the next step would be to conduct appraisals. Should the town buy out each of the homes, they would be demolished, the debris would be cleared, and the land would be revegetated to serve as a natural barrier.

Also impacted by flooding in the Continental Road area of the town were two structures owned by the Black Rock Forest Consortium - the Lumber Barn which was demolished and the Shop which sustained critical damage. Director Isabel Ashton said Black Rock is still in the planning stages and anticipated having a clearer update later this year.

FEMA has obligated, but not guaranteed, $1.5 million in federal funding for 11 projects - five of which date back to Hurricane Ida - totaling $1.84 million. Four projects are still pending. An additional $184,000 is expected to come from the state while the village is on the hook for $127,000 as federal funding requires a 75/25 percent split. While some of the projects have already been completed or are nearing completion, eight are either in the design phase or are awaiting alternate project approval.

Water Department Superintendent Michael Trainor anticipates water main projects will be completed sometime next year once the projects are designed and receive final approval.

He pointed out funding was obligated to repair a 10-inch water main on Boulevard, but with a 16-inch main on the other side of the street, putting the former back in service would be redundant. Instead, he’s requesting approval for alternate projects - GIS mapping of water mains, valves, and the sewer system, as well as reservoir monitoring.

Department of Public Works Superintendent David Halvorsen reported three outstanding projects totaling about $420,000. They include stream mitigation on the Boulevard between Payson Road and the nature museum, repairs to a box culvert on Mountain Road above the Storm King Mountain trailhead, and the replacement of a collapsed gabion basket, also on Mountain Road.

He said projects are in the design phase and still require approval from the USDA, which he expects later this year or early next year, with work to be conducted next year.

Seven homeowners, located at the top and middle of Mountain Road near the trailhead, as well as in the lower village, are also seeking remediation. Mayor James Gagliano said some have received compensation from the state in the amount of a couple thousand dollars, but all have been directed to Congressman Pat Ryan’s office for further assistance.

“He’s doing the best he can on the federal side,” Gagliano said, “but this was not declared a disaster zone and as a result no federal monies have come in to help out individual homeowners.”

In the meantime, the village will be looking at upgrading its century old storm-water system in the hopes of being able to handle what was described as a 1,000-year storm. The mayor pointed out there are two challenges: finding the money to fund a project which would cost tens of millions of dollars, and finding places to direct the water from on top of the mountain that won’t negatively impact residents down below.