Hochul requests Physical Disaster Declaration after July flooding
Published on:
September 22, 2026
On July 29, the Greene County Sheriff’s Office Dive/Swift Water Rescue Team and the Coxsackie Fire Department rescued a woman, her granddaughter, a dog, and a cat from a house that was surrounded by rising water. Photo contributed.
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GREENE COUNTY―Governor Kathy Hochul announced Tuesday that she has requested a Physical Disaster Declaration from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) for Columbia, Rensselaer and the contiguous counties of Albany, Saratoga, Washington, Dutchess, Greene and Ulster, following a rain event from July 28 to July 29.
That storm wreaked havoc on the region and in Greene County dumped anywhere from six to 11 inches of rain over a 24-hour period.
The heaviest of that rain was concentrated in Greenville, New Baltimore, Coxsackie and the northern part of Athens, Greene County Emergency Services Deputy Director Dan King told county legislators in a briefing after the storm.
If the declaration is approved, the following groups may be eligible for low-interest SBA disaster loans:
Homeowners: up to $500,000 to repair their primary residence.
Homeowners and renters: up to $100,000 to repair or replace damaged or destroyed personal property.
Business owners: up to $2 million for the replacement of real property, inventories, machinery, equipment, and other physical losses.
Businesses and non-profits: Economic Injury Disaster Loans of up to $2 million to provide necessary working capital until normal operations resume after a disaster.
The loans cover disaster losses not fully covered by insurance or other sources. Proceeds from insurance coverage on home or property may be deducted from the eligible loan amount.
At the Greene County 911 Center, dispatchers on July 29 took 396 calls between midnight and 3 p.m. Only 13 of those calls were not storm related.
The Coxsackie Fire Department handled about 70 of those calls and, countywide, firefighters responded to more than 180 pump outs. For the first time ever, the 911 center had all six terminals manned.
The storm was also the first time the Greene-Columbia COAD (Community Organizations Active in Disaster) was activated. It is a cooperative network coordinating local non-profit, faith-based, and community groups to support emergency planning, disaster response, and recovery across Greene and Columbia counties.
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