The timing of Irene's arrival at Frost Valley was in many ways lucky. Summer camp campers and almost all the staff had just left. Family Camp campers had not yet arrived. The staff currently on the property are waiting out the storm in the dining hall. Everyone is safe.
But Biscuit Creek rose and flooded just at the waterfall by Smith Lodge and Pigeon Lodge. Its waters eroded the bank next to Pigeon Lodge and the building--built in the early 1920s by Forstmann--collapsed and slid into the creek. From what I hear, big chunks of the building are jammed against the little bridge that crosses Biscuit between the Olympic Circle/Ad Office and the road heading up to the Castle. That in turn forced more water up and into the field going one way toward the Neversink River and the other way across the road to Reflection Pond. Hemlock Brook or Trickle Creek (the stream that flows between cabins 21-25 and the dining hall) has overflowed also.
Everyone is safe. Family Camp is cancelled but there is a great deal of clean-up to be done once the storm passes.
There were similar floods in 1937, 1969, and 1972. The latter two happened in June.
Photos above taken by Dan Weir on Sunday early afternoon.
