Parishes and towns recovering from floods

Torrential rains joined with melting snow and ice to cause the flooding, which also devastated several parishes. Six months later, The Evangelist checked in on the parishes hardest-hit by the floods, to see how local Catholics are rebuilding their churches, homes and lives.

MARGARETVILLE

"We are still so torn up, it's unbelievable," remarked Rev. Robert Purcell, pastor of Sacred Heart parish in Margaretville.

Sacred Heart topped the list of parishes most damaged by the flood waters, which filled the church, rectory and parish center, submerged two cars in a garage, destroyed a parking lot and ripped out stonework in front of the church.

The water also stripped the varnish from the church's pews, and only trees that became wedged against the stained-glass windows saved them from shattering.

The town of Margaretville fared no better; one main street alone saw major damage to a restaurant, grocery store, drugstore, gas station, car wash and other businesses, in addition to many homes.

Hope arises

In January, Father Purcell looked at the destruction in shock and said, "Seventeen years of work down the drain." But today, he sees hope:

* Much of the damage at Sacred Heart has been repaired;

* Within a week after the flood, the church was ready for use again;

* Six inches of water covering the floor was vacuumed out, and the caked mud that remained -- too much for machines to handle -- was scrubbed away by workers on their hands and knees;

* Another week saw the rectory become habitable. "We got new carpeting, and the baseboard was repainted. A battalion of parishioners came in, washed everything and put it all back," Father Purcell remembered proudly. "By evening, it looked like the rectory we had on January 18th, before the flood hit."

Costly damage

After that, however, the parish ran into some snags. The total bill for repairs, originally estimated at $60,000 to $80,000, topped $250,000. (The Albany Diocese carries flood insurance for its parishes; the Diocese must pay for the first $100,000 in repairs while parishes are liable for the first $750.)

Sacred Heart's original garage, destroyed in the flood, had been a simple wooden building on a cement slab. But after the flood, the parish had to follow government regulations in rebuilding, which require a five-foot-deep foundation with steel-reinforced rods.

"We've literally doubled in price," Father Purcell stated. The parish is "going to have to absorb some of this."

Personal woes

Ten weeks ago, the stress of dealing with the flood hit the pastor physically. He had a stroke and ended up in Albany Medical Center, paralyzed on his left side and unable to see or talk.

Fortunately, he recovered quickly. He has his speech and sight back, and is able to walk with a cane. Among those affected by the disaster, he counts himself lucky.

"It started out as a disaster," he said; "but out of the disaster came some wonderful things."

Many repairs remain to be completed. Backhoes and bulldozers have further destroyed the church grounds, and only a tiny path is paved for parishioners to use. The pews are without varnish, and the parish center awaits carpeting, sanding and new lighting. Father Purcell expects that repairs will not be finished until fall.

Recovering

The town of Margaretville, like its parish, is rebuilding itself slowly. Even though half its residents had no flood insurance, local banks have been generous with loans. Immediately after the flood, Father Purcell added, carpenters, plumbers, electricians and handymen began showing up on his doorstep.

"They said, `Do you have any parishioners that need help? We'll donate our time.' They didn't want pay -- they just wanted to help. "The flood united a lot of people," he said. "I see buildings being repaired and painted now that haven't been in the 18 years I've been here. There's a whole new revitalization of Main Street."

The priest's own faith has been bolstered by the generosity he has seen in the town, as residents who have lost their own homes and businesses take time to help their neighbors.

"I have seen a whole new side of people. I saw this real inner goodness come out in a very positive way. I used to say, `It's easy to say you have faith, but it takes a real critical situation to see if you've got it,'" he remembered. "And they've got it."

WALTON

In Walton, Rev. Eugene Willis, pastor of St. John the Baptist parish, wishes his town was "as upbeat as Margaretville."

With $30,000 spent on repairs to date, St. John's was the second-hardest hit by the flood. When the Delaware River overflowed, several inches of water filled the church and parish center, and turned a parking lot into a gully. Water also seeped into the cellar of the parish's mission church, Holy Family in Downsville.

Worst yet was the town of Walton, which saw roads, businesses and homes washed away in the flood. When a fire broke out in two businesses on Main Street, a six-foot wall of water separated firemen from the buildings, which burned to the ground.

Fire and flood

Father Willis vividly described flames reaching out of the burning buildings "like sunspots off the sun," and the sound of ammunition exploding as a hardware store caught fire.

"Water, water everywhere, and they couldn't put the fire out," he said sadly. "They're just empty lots now. Jobs are scarce. We were an impacted community anyway before the flood, but now...."

Although Father Willis sees townspeople as depressed after the flood, they are carrying on with repairs. As one matter-of-fact parishioner said, "Well, what are you going to do about it?"

Parish reviving

St. John the Baptist parish has had its share of repairs. By the end of February, floors and rugs had been replaced in the parish hall and church, and heaters dried wet sheetrock walls.

The parking lot is now being refilled with crushed rock, and the pastor expects the parish center to be painted, molding replaced and the floor stripped, waxed and resealed soon.

Yardwork, of course, will be the last to finish, but parishioners have already donated shrubs and flowers to spruce up the bare ground. Father Willis joked about his "lessons in horticulture."

MIDDLEBURGH

Like other towns in areas affected by the flood, Middleburgh is hard-put to deal with the deluge of requests for repair work.

"I don't think you can find a contractor in Middleburgh who's not still committed to some kind of cleanup from the flood," stated administrative assistant Laurie Gallup at St. Catherine's parish in the Schoharie County town.

While St. Catherine's itself suffered only minor damage to the church's entranceway, the town around it lost far more. Its main road was torn apart, and a bridge that led into town has just reopened. Flooded fields left local farmers unable to work sections of their land, and harvests have been much lighter than usual.

Eyes on future

But Middleburgh residents have been able to put the flood behind them and work toward the future. Community cleanup days have helped them to finish many repairs.

"In most people's minds, the flood is over and done with," Ms. Gallup said. "It's kind of a chapter that's ended. If anything, it's brought the community together."

After the flood, St. Catherine's parish took up a collection for families whose homes were damaged. Parishioners gave $200 each to three needy families.

SCHOHARIE

When she saw the devastation at other parishes in the Diocese, Sister Joan Curley, CSJ, pastoral administrator at St. Joseph's parish in Schoharie, said to herself, "Thank you, God."

"It could have been so much worse," she told The Evangelist this week. "We were really spared."

Just a block away from the church, two Schoharie residents died of exposure after their power went out, and many parishioners' homes were damaged in the flood. But at St. Joseph's, only a furnace, breaker box and washer/dryer were lost. The damage totaled just $1,200, with only the mud caked on the garage floor yet to be cleaned. "I have that as a souvenir," Sister Joan remarked.

"I don't know how the church wasn't hit," she added. "There was six feet of water in the parish house."

Back to normal

Six months after the flood, most buildings in town are back to normal. "You can still see remnants, but the initial impact has been taken care of," Sister Joan explained. "But it's going to be with people for months ahead."

As such, she and two local ministers in the tight-knit community have banded together to offer counseling to anyone who needs it. "This is my second flood since 1985, and we've also had a tornado here," the administrator said. "We automatically band together."

Now that the "cosmetic things are taken care of," she looks at the flood as an illustration of faith: "I see it as a dying, death and resurrection. People here are just marvelous. It's a wonderful, giving community."

Bottom line

Ronald Waters, the diocesan insurance manager, said that the flood damage has cost the Diocese $325,000 to date.

After spending the past six months traveling to flooded parishes to direct repairs, he summed up the flood's impact in one sentence: "We're lucky we've got flood insurance."

(07-18-96) [[In-content Ad]]