Jun 20, 2007 8:00 pm US/Eastern
Upstate Flood Search Called Off Due To Darkness
2 Dead, 4 Still Missing; Search Resumes Thursday
by Tony Aiello
ROSCOE, N.Y. (CBS/AP) ―
CBS 2 HD has confirmed that two people are dead and at least four others are still missing after flash floods ravaged the southern edge of the Catskill Mountains late Tuesday night.
Up to eight inches of rain fell in two hours, washing out roads and homes and slamming trees into bridges in this rural area.
Police had been searching Wednesday for the people reported missing, but we forced to temporarily call off the search due to darkness.
New York State Police Sgt. Keith Hocker said witnesses saw two of the missing people being swept away by flood waters.
"We have helicopters, we have people on the ground, we have divers," Hocker said.
About 75 to 100 troopers searching in southern Delaware County were being assisted by other police agencies, forest rangers and corrections officers. As of Wednesday afternoon, there had been no confirmed reports of deaths in the flooding.
The downpour came as a series of storms tore through New York state on Tuesday, killing at least one person and leaving more than 3,000 electricity customers still without power Wednesday.
Details about the search were sketchy, in part because phone lines were down and cell service is spotty in this rural area 100 miles northwest of New York City.
Scattered power outages remained around the state Wednesday.
National Grid reported 1,700 outages, with more than half in Essex County in northern New York. Central Hudson Gas & Electric and New York State Electric and Gas reported about 200 outages each scattered throughout the Hudson Valley. About 1,200 Rochester Gas & Electric customers were without power in western New York.
In Rochester, a man riding a recreational vehicle on a wooded trail along the Genesee River was killed when the top half of a tree as tall as 100 feet crashed down on him during a storm Tuesday afternoon, Fire Department Capt. Dan McBride said.
Sustained winds of nearly 50 miles an hour, with gusts of 60 mph to 65 mph, were recorded at the city's airport, the National Weather Service said.
Dozens of oak trees upwards of 100 feet tall were snapped in half by the gusts, McBride said.
In the suburb of Brighton, a tree crashed on a car near a park, trapping a woman. She was freed by firefighters and taken to a hospital with what appeared to be minor injuries.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
