Binghamton has started to recover from its disastrous flood, and the list of necessary repairs is long, and expensive:
- Nine sinkholes have been found so far on Binghamton's roads
- As much as $25 million in damage have been done to the sewage treatment plant
- The city has racked up at least $2.35 million in other costs.
According to city Department of Public Works commissioner Luke Day, long stretches of sewer line could need major work. The sinkholes could be just the beginning - more could result from the influx of water in weakened pavement. The city is still working on a full damage assessment.
Day estimates that the cost of road repairs could amount to $400,000 - and that doesn't include the existing sinkholes.
"There's a lot of miles of road that were underwater and things are going to change as time goes on," he says.
Several of the city's public housing units were also severely damaged, putting the city at risk of a housing crisis, according to reports from the Press & Sun Bulletin.
Damage estimates are not yet available for all of Broome County or the others hit hardest by flooding.
But some progress is being made. Thursday morning officials lifted the public health emergency, that prevented people from returning to the Twin Orchards section of the town of Vestal. That was the last area in the county that residents had been prohibited from entering.
Interstate 88 to the east of Binghamton is open to traffic after closing for a week because of flooding.
