BY JEFF CHUDZINSKINorth Country This Week

CANTON -- Governor Kathy Hochul visited the Canton Volunteer Fire Department Aug. 13, offering praise for the numerous first responders who assisted in rapidly deteriorating conditions Aug. 9.

"This community has been through an extraordinary experience and I'm proud of the individuals standing behind me, along with the countless (others) who are still out on the streets working so hard to restore this community," she told attendees.

Hochul said it has been a tough summer for the North Country, with Lewis County also experiencing significant flooding just one month ago. She said Lewis County is "still suffering from these effects."

Hochul touched on the sheer scale of the recovery effort, acknowledging the geographic size of the county and how that exacerbates the difficulties in restoring services for residents.

"St. Lawrence is the largest county geographically in the state of New York, the size of Rhode Island, making this scale of having to deal with a crisis of this magnitude with a volunteer fire department from a place like Canton (more difficult). I want to thank every one of them for stepping up and giving their time and their talents and really being willing to put themselves directly in harm's way to save the lives of their neighbors," she said.

Hochul said it was an "incredible team approach" to pull through such a difficult situation.

She took a moment to thank local leaders, many of whom were in attendance, including Chairman of the legislature David Forsythe, County Administrator Ruth Doyle, County Emergency Services Director Matt Denner, Canton Town Supervisor Mary Ann Ashley,  Village of Canton Mayor Mike Dalton,  and County Highway Superintendent Don Chambers.

"My gosh, the highway teams have been working so hard. It's extraordinary to see what this county has done and how they pull together in this crisis," she said.

Hochul said state Emergency Services personnel would be embedded to assist with recovery efforts.

"This was a statewide effort. We want to make sure that we're bringing our resources and our and our efforts to these areas that are really hard hit," she said.

She said state workers began work on Tuesday, preparing for the storm and engaging with local emergency operations officials, however the severity of the situation was worse than expected.

Hochul said 85 state Department of Transportation personnel were in the North County in preparation, along with "scores of contractors who are trying to deal with the fact that over 100 roads were damaged in the storm."

Hochul said the work that has been conducted in just three days to open so many roads was "an incredible effort" by highway crews.

"It's been an all out team approach like I've never seen before. So, I need to come here in person and just thank these individuals personally."

But highways were not the only concern, with the Canton wastewater facility also proving to be a problem.

During the storm, all five pumps failed at the facility. In response, state officials and Department of Environmental Conservation personnel are on site with pumps to assist, Hochul said.

"I know that was a point of vulnerability and anxiety for everyone here," she said.

Hochul also addressed homeowner concerns, saying that "scores of homeowners have now been displaced from their homes."

She said a state program has been put in place to financially assist people who suffered flood damage to their homes but do not have flood insurance.

"Fifty-thousand dollar grants is the maximum that people can apply for as soon as possible. Contact your insurance company, get the details, which I'm sure is going to come for those who do not have coverage for water damage, and we'll have teams on the ground here immediately from our Department of Financial Services to help those who do want to make insurance claims," she said.

Hochul said the financial relief to help rebuild will also be available for business owners as well.

She said state personnel will be available in the North Country for the foreseeable future.

"It's about New York residents at their finest, being here when their residents need them. I just want to say how proud I am for everybody here to stay here. We're not going anywhere, not until we can get this community back to normal and prepared for, unfortunately, what is now becoming the new normal with extreme weather...we are going to continue focusing on building the resiliency necessary to help protect these communities when the next warm storm comes, not if, but when the next storms come," she said.

The meet and greet can be viewed by visiting www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKa3cyxz59M