Residents of Binghamton’s Southside watched Thursday as parts of their neighborhood were flooded by the Susquehanna River.
Water stretched a block past the Susquehanna River over the adjacent Conklin Avenue and onto Vestal Avenue. On Conklin, water was at least five feet deep, judging from submerged cars parked around the corner — reporters were not able to reach the street itself.
MacArthur Elementary School was covered halfway up its first floor in water as of the early evening on Thursday. Firefighters, supported by rafts, were seen responding to a small fire in the building, as witnesses gathered to watch the scene.
The mood of onlookers on the Southside, despite the extensive home and business damage, was notably positive. Residents walked along the new waterfront and gathered on porches to commiserate about the situation.
Chris Mills of 34 New St., off of Vestal Avenue, invited Pipe Dream reporters into his home. Mills, who had recently bought his house, managed to move all his furniture to the second floor. His first floor was dry, but his basement was filled with water, with only a foot separating the murky water from the basement’s ceiling.
“The whole house is going to have to come down,” Mills said. His basement was only slightly wet at noon, and took only four hours to fill up with flood water.
Mills said he doesn’t have flood insurance.
Rush Avenue, several blocks away, was in significantly worse shape than New Street. Half of Rush’s houses were submerged in water above their front door.
Vince Innarella has lived at 26 Rush Ave. for 38 years. His first floor is now covered in at least 2-3 feet of water.
“We had water during the night in the basement,” Innarella said, but “once the [flood] walls broke it came fast.”
Residents indicated that the area began flooding in earnest around noon — exactly when Binghamton Police began knocking on doors, according to local residents.
Broome County ordered residents in flood-prone areas to evacuate around 5 p.m. Wednesday, but many residents did not leave their houses until both the authorities and rising water forced them to do so.
All the residents Pipe Dream spoke with agreed that the situation on Thursday was significantly worse than a similar flooding scenario that took place five years ago.
“In 2006, we were talking about cleaning up the basement,” Innarella said, referring to the record-setting flood. “This is way, way worse.”