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Potsdam, Lake Placid pick up from storm damage
Some of the worst damage was reported in the village of Potsdam. Village Administrator Dave Fenton says several buildings were damaged. The roof on a liquor store collapsed and the roofs of Sergis' restaurant and a hardware store were torn off. Fenton said the Sergi's building and two others, including a nearby apartment, have been temporarily condemned. Fenton said the village will soon begin adding up how much the damage will cost to see if Potsdam will qualify for help from the state.
Lake Placid is scrambling to clean up downed trees and other debris after a thunderstorm that struck five days before the Ironman triathlon. Tuesday evening's storm also damaged Lake Placid's Water Filtration Plant, and homeowners throughout the community were in their yards yesterday and today surveying the damage caused by heavy rains and high winds. Chris Morris has more.
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The village’s drinking water comes from Lake Placid, and the equipment in the filtration plant filters the water, treats it and pumps it to a nearby reservoir.
“The six or eight massive white pine trees that (fell) over, they look to me to be first-growth pine,” village Mayor Craig Randall said. “They’re gorgeous tree trunks. Unfortunately, they don’t look so nice when they’re sitting on top of your building.”
A good deal of debris had been cleared from the facility’s roof by late Wednesday morning. Randall said electronic equipment inside the building wasn’t damaged. The village’s insurance carrier has given it the go-ahead to make emergency repairs, although it’s too soon to say how much those repairs will cost.
More than 3,000 competitors plus their family members, friends and support staff are expected for this year’s Ironman triathlon. Randall says visitors and residents shouldn’t be concerned about the village’s drinking water. “Here we are, this is one of the biggest weekends of the summer season for Lake Placid, and I think the thing for our residents and visitors to know is their water source is secure; pump systems are working they way they’re supposed to work,” he said. “The damage was limited to roof damage for the most part.”
Many properties along the shore of Lake Placid sustained heavy damage as powerful winds peeled back swaths of shoreline 30 to 40 yards long in some places. Mark Wilson is president of the Lake Placid Shore Owners Association. He said, “There are numerous trails all along here … there’s a Lakeshore Trail that is substantially blocked by all of the blow-down.”
Margo Fish owns property on the lake’s western shore. She said she was still without power this morning. “About 5 o’clock yesterday when the winds really came, it was like (Tropical Storm) Irene again,” she said. “And terrifying winds. And 15 trees fell. They didn’t destroy the buildings, but very nearly.”
Fish said she’s thankful no one was hurt. Emergency officials said power had been restored to most of Lake Placid by Wednesday afternoon.
