Flash Flooding - 14 July 2021

Archive

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Town of Sand Lake, New York

National Weather Service Rainfall Map - 14 July 2021: NWS map clearly identifying the "bullseye" of 4.5" of rain that hit Sand Lake on July 14, 2021, over the course of less than 3 hours. Note the minor to dramatically lower rainfalls in the area surrounding Sand Lake.
National Weather Service Rainfall Map - 14 July 2021

NWS map clearly identifying the "bullseye" of 4.5" of rain that hit Sand Lake on July 14, 2021, over the course of less than 3 hours. Note the minor to dramatically lower rainfalls in the area surrounding Sand Lake.

Name/Title

Flash Flooding - 14 July 2021

Entry/Object ID

2021.5.4

Scope and Content

Photos, news articles, and metrics regarding a, "bullseye microburst," of 4.61" of rain that primarily hit the Town of Sand Lake from approximately 3:30 to 6 pm on July 14, 2021. The huge volume of rain in such a short period of time overwhelmed and washed out numerous roads and drainage structures, including culverts, bridges, and ditches, causing significant damage to Town Hall and major to catastrophic damage to dozens of homes and businesses, but no major injuries or loss of life. Residents located along the Wynantskill Creek, as well as its numerous interconnected tributaries and lakes, experienced near-immediate flash flooding as torrents of water cascaded down the highlands to the east of Sand Lake, turned tiny streams into raging rivers and waterfalls, quickly increased lake levels by over two feet, topped dams, and rapidly flooded surrounding homes and low-lying areas as far away as North Greenbush with several inches up to many feet of rushing water. Fortunately, none of the Town's numerous dams broke, which could have caused much more damage as well as loss of life. The event sounds nearly identical to a "cloudburst" that struck Sand Lake approximately 130 years earlier on August 21, 1891, causing similar flash flooding that similarly destroyed roads, bridges, homes, and businesses all along the Wynantskill.

Cataloged By

Michael Frederick Perry

Acquisition

Accession

2021.5

Created By

curator@slhstrustees.org

Create Date

July 17, 2021

Updated By

curator@slhstrustees.org

Update Date

July 19, 2021