by Scot Evans

Truesdale Lake received a total rainfall of 2.91″ and Twin Lakes received 3.12″ during the 35 hours of precipitation from Tropical Depression HENRI. Offshore, it was a CAT 1 Hurricane, downgraded to a Tropical Storm as it entered the pass between Montauk and Block Island and downgraded again to a Tropical Depression during its westward progress to Newburgh.

The radar image below shows the reason that NJ and NYC received so much rain and flooding. This leading west band dumped huge amounts of rain on them and never affected us.

With the three inches of rain we received, the lake rose rapidly and at its peak, was flowing 7″ over the new custom-made one piece weir board between the training walls of the primary spillway under the bridge. (The lake was 15″ below the level when it would start to flow over the secondary spillway, which is the lowest part of the road where the boatyard meets the water.)

The water level was about 8″ above the top of the lake wall and was flowing over the secondary spillway.
(If you have photos of water flowing over the secondary spillway, please send them for our archive.)

For comparison, here is the same view of the lake level after Tropical Depression HENRI departed – heading east to Cape Cod.

Note that FLOYD was a CAT 4 Hurricane, just 2 MPH short of becoming the highest rating on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

Here it was at its peak intensity near the Turks & Caicos Islands.

Here are 2 of my 3 precip reports (1st day had just .01″ since storm had just arrived before I took the reading):

Here’s the rainfall comparison with the Three Lakes Region:

And finally, I opened up the Control Tower lid and confirmed that the lake level matched the water level inside the flooded shaft above the low level outlet sluice gate. I pulled some mugwart and closed the lid hoping to repair and rebuild our dam with the $10 million grant we’ll receive one day.