Video, B-Roll, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Cuomo Deploys State Resources to Assist with Ice Jam Flooding in Whitesboro

Earlier today, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo deployed state resources to assist local communities impacted by flooding in Whitesboro due to ice jamming at the CSX-owned rail bridge. As a result of today's flooding, local authorities evacuated four homes out of an abundance of caution. New York has dispatched Swift Water Rescue personnel and equipment to assist localities in the Mohawk Valley and Southern Tier regions. In addition, Governor Cuomo urged New Yorkers in the Mohawk Valley and Southern Tier regions to take necessary precautions in anticipation of potential ice jam flooding on rivers and streams. The State will also be adding 5 large culverts under the CSX Bridge to mitigate the impact of flooding and building additional flood plain benches in the immediate vicinity. More information is available here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Thank you very much. I would say it's a joy to be back but it's actually not good news today but we are on top of it. First to County Executive Anthony Picente I want to thank him and his entire team for their great partnership and how we cooperate on the most extraordinary circumstances and we have an example of that today. I want to thank the mayor and the supervisor. We have Michael Kopy who's the head of state emergency management. We have Commissioner RoAnn Destito, who is no stranger to this community and Assemblymember Buttenschon and Senator Griffo and I want to thank them both for their help and their assistance because some of the repairs that we're going to need to make, the state wants to be helpful but it's going to require funding and it's going to require the legislature to approve it so I'm glad that they're here. Extreme weather is new normal for us, you know we never had these types of floods. We never had this level of snowfall, we never had hurricanes, we never had typhoons. This is a new pattern not just in New York, not just in this country but all across the globe.

Extreme weather is reality. That has increased our challenges as a government because it has given us something to respond to and to adjust to, and that's what we are doing. Unfortunately, we are seeing more and more of these situations. And that's why we have to be even faster and more capable than we have ever been before. This is not a new situation, as the County Executive said, it has gone on for years. But when we have more of these extreme weather events it aggravates the problem. The basic problem is, frankly, the CSX railroad bridge. The state doesn't own it, the county doesn't own it, town doesn't own it. It's owned by CSX railroad. Its and old bridge. It's a low bridge and their bridge causes a clog.

Debris gets caught in the bridge or the ice starts to break up and large pieces of ice come down and they get caught in the bridge and that starts a backup. The state has a project where on both sides of that bridge we're going to put in culverts. We've put in culverts on one side of the bridge, five of them. And that has made the situation better than in the past. We still have to do culverts on the other side of the bridge to increase the flow and that work will start in February. That will mitigate the situation. I would love to be able to say that will resolve it. I don't believe it will resolve it, I believe the real resolution is CSX has to put a new bridge in that location, and they have to be more attentive, frankly, and more cooperative because it is their bridge that is causing the problem.

It's endangering lives and it's endangering safety, and CSX is a railroad company, but they also owe an obligation to the communities that they serve, and this is a host community to the railroad. Their obligation is to be a good neighbor and not to be a negative and this causing significant harm, significant cost to state and county and the town, as well as the people who are suffering. So we are going to take it up with CSX once again. They know about the problem, they have been informed about the problem and frankly, they have not been cooperative and we are going to do everything we can. The state will consider legal action against CSX if they are not cooperative because, as they used to say in the old neighborhood, enough is enough. And enough is enough.

We are spending state money to try and make it better on an interim basis. We have equipment out now that's working with the county that's breaking up the ice removing the ice, but until we get that bridge replaced with a new, higher, modern bridge that's the real solution. Every year we're out trying to compensate for the damage that their bridge is causing and its caused homeowner damage, it's caused a lot of people undue pain and we need CSX to make a difference. In the meantime, we'll start the second culvert project. Again the culverts relieve some of the water that's behind the bridge that gets stuck behind the bridge, but the culverts will not compensate for the flow that needs to go under the bridge and that's the answer and we'll be doing both culverts, but then doing more. What we need to do to get an answer out of CSX or, as I said, the state will pursue legal action against them because it's caused a lot of suffering for the people of the state of New York.