Upstate towns still reeling from Irene

SCHOHARIE -- Storefronts in this quaint upstate village flooded out by Tropical Storm Irene remain mostly empty, and temporary trailers are plunked down alongside grand old homes.

A bank branch is serving customers from a truck and a government building's hand-painted sign offers directions: "Temporary Courthouse by Dunkin' Donuts." Vacant houses display "for sale" signs and a lot on the village's edge is scattered with tires, appliances and a house-high pile of construction debris -- a massive reminder of what was lost.

Almost three months after Irene, people in the hard-hit village of Schoharie are still rebuilding their community and their lives. Progress has been so slow because the damage was so widespread.

"You know, one foot in front of the other," said Leslie Price, 54, who lost her home and had to close her two hair salons after the storm.

Price plans to reopen her J. Lacy salon on Main Street and decide what to do with her second salon in nearby Middleburgh in the spring. She is still employed as village clerk and treasurer, though she works from a temporary office in the elementary school.

Though Price had to raze her damaged home after Irene swept through, she is thankful for the Federal Emergency Management Agency trailer that was recently placed on her lot. It was big enough to host her sisters for Thanksgiving dinner, plus it's her first steady place to stay in months.

Irene deluged a broad swath of the East Coast on Aug. 28, but a few dozen rural towns in Vermont and upstate New York, including in the Catskills and Adirondacks, endured a disproportionate share of property damage. On Irene's heels, a second round of torrential rain from Tropical Storm Lee focused havoc in New York's Southern Tier in places like Tioga, Broome and Chenango counties.

In this village 25 miles west of Albany, Irene created a surge along Schoharie Creek that damaged 275 of the village's 350 buildings, including all the businesses on Main Street. Residents who were forced to evacuate say the flood water reached higher than seven feet up their living room walls.

Thousands of volunteers and contractors have helped gut and rebuild houses but many residents have yet to get back into their homes.

Mayor John Borst said one problem was that some residents were still waiting on insurance payments to rebuild. But he said the village's mood had lifted since the dark days right after Irene.

"There are a lot of people -- and I mean a lot of people -- who at first blush were going to leave, were indecisive at best," Borst said. "And they decided to rebuild. They're staying. And when I find that out I give them a hug and I ask them, 'What changed your mind?' And they say 'This is home.' "

That's exactly the answer Cappy Santos, 81, gave when asked why she was renovating the home she has lived in since 1955. The widow lives within sight of the creek, which rose eight feet up her first-floor walls, tipping over the refrigerator and floating her dining room table into the living room in a muddy tide. She escaped with wedding photos and letters from her late husband, but her home's interior was wrecked.

Work on Santos' home is almost done. She hopes to be back in a few weeks.