"....The garage of Otis Donaldson near Grahamsville was inundated and his house was surrounded with the flood waters. Cellars in particularly every house in Grahamsville were filled with water.

"The Perpacton Brook, west of Grahamsville, cut a new channel and undermined the Graham monument.

"Moses Kortright managed to bring his automobile to a place of safety as the flood waters of the Chestnut Creek surrounded his barn and carried a small building from its foundation.

"The old saw mill, operated for many years by the late George Reynolds, of Grahamsville, was dismantled from its moorings.

"William Bevier, of Eureka, saw his house being surrounded with water and ran inside just in time to look out of the window and see his henhouse with 35 choice chickens sailing down the raging waters of Chestnut Creek. Neighbors said they saw the henhouse still sailing entact some distance down stream. A search for the missing chickens after the storm subsided was futile.

"People who were vacationing a short distance from Eureka discovered a shortage of food Saturday morning but found that the flood waters had cut them off from the hamlet. After a two mile trip through the woods to an upstream bridge a suitable passage was found to the store.

"The Melvin DuBois property at Eureka was under four feet of water for a period of two hours on Friday. His three car garage moved about three feet from its foundation and one of the garage doors was carried away by the swollen waters of Chestnut Creek. Water rose to the depth of three feet on the first floor and ruined furniture in the rooms. A coal stove was turned over by the water...."

"...The Neversink bore true to its Indain name, Ne-wa-sink, meaning mad river, when it overflowed its banks and swept small buildings and crops from its banks. The village of Neversink was isolated due to flooded highways and electric and telephone service was put out of order. At Grahamsville telephone service was restored after it had been crippled for several hours. Electric service in Roscoe and Livingston Manor was interrupted but only brief periods.

"Throughout the Fallsburgh-Woodbourne section considerable property along the Neversink was damaged. The Woodbourne prison was cut off from the village by water waist high on the highway. A similar water height was noted on roads near Hurleyville.

"The area around the New York City water project at Lackawack was a sea of mud. A short distance from there the road was covered with water knee deep. Several automobiles were driven through despite the warnings of road patrolmen. One car stalled and it was necessary for its occupants to step out into the muddy water and push their car to safety.

"At Montela the middle pier of a concrete bridge dropped nearly two feet below its original bed.

"Chestnut Creek raised over its banks and flooded a large area at Grahamsville. Water covered the low lands of the George Dierfelter property near Eureka destroying his potato and corn crops. Near his barn water rushed off a hill and deposited tons of silt and stones in the highway. His barn floor was covered with mud and workmen were kept busy for several hours making the road passable and cleaning out the barn..."

July 29, 1938; Republican Watchman

The wet and stormy months of August and September of 1938 were preceeded by...you guessed it...the wet and stormy month of July. The Republican Watchman of July 29, 1938, documents the storm that occurred previous weekend and its aftermath;

"The heaviest rainstorm to visit Sullivan County since 1925 raised streams to raging torrents and changed rivers into roaring oceans causing severe floods throughout this area over the weekend. The eight day continuous rain washed out bridges, railroad tracks, trees and buildings but caused no loss of human life in Sullivan County.

"Throughout the nation flood damage was estimated in the millions and thousands were driven from their homes by the flood waters.

"Route Seventeen, between Livingston Manor and Roscoe was under water for several hours and traffic was halted until the waters receded. On the dug road or Riverside Drive, between Livingston Manor and Roscoe, a mountain stream near the Neil Davidson home, washed out a large bridge, uprooted trees and tore down a small building as it brought tons of silt and stones from the hills above and deposited them in the front yard. A cow kept at the Davidson farm was swept away by the flood waters and drowned.

"Near Parkston a new Oldsmobile roadster was carried down the stream with part of a bridge which was undermined by the swift water as the automobile was parked on one side of it. The driver ran for safety when the car fell into the stream and was carried under the remains of the bridge.

"Bowling pins were scattered throughout the village of Livingston Manor when the Cat-tail creek waters tore out the back of a barn in which 15,000 pins were stored by the Sherwood turning mills. Streets in various sections of the village were flooded as were many cellars.

"A short distance north of Livingston Manor the O&W tracks were washed out for a distance of about 500 feet. A comparable washout was also reported near the hamlet of Hazel. In all, four washouts were reported along the tracks. Train service, however, was only slightly delayed..."

".... When a ditch was blocked near the Henry Horstman farm on Cold Spring Road, 800 chickens were drowned in their coop - about 500 of them six-weeks old and 300 of them only two weeks old. Some 600 others escaped the floods.

"While hotelmen have grown accustomed to week-end storms, that Saturday night failed to come early enough to spoil a resort business believed by many to have been the best this season in the county."

August 11, 1938; Liberty Register