水果派AV

Several boats and other watercraft escaped their docks early Thursday, drifting into the lake and sometimes washing ashore elsewhere.

A public Facebook group created that morning, already had 300 members by 4 p.m. Dozens of posts show pictures of pontoon boats, Jet Skis, kayaks and more that have either gone missing or been discovered over the past day. The posts reunited some watercraft with their owners, but several more remain unaccounted for.

Coordinating a similar effort is the Cayuga County 911 Center. As of 3:30 p.m. Thursday, the center had compiled a list of about 15 watercraft that people had lost or found, dispatcher Patty Campbell told 水果派AV. Most of them have been reunited with their owners. Campbell encouraged anyone else searching for watercraft, or the owner of one, to call the center at (315) 253-1222.

"So far we've been pretty lucky," she said. "Everybody's been super helpful, especially in a time like this when it's just a mess everywhere."

Dealing with both lost and found watercraft is Lisa Forshee, of Brook Hollow Drive in Owasco. Not only was her Bennington pontoon boat set adrift by the high water levels, but her neighbor's boat washed up in her driveway. Forshee's boat was found and is docked on the west side of the lake, but she and her neighbors face another problem now: Their docks have been washed away, too.

"Everybody's boats are gone, everybody's docks are gone," she said.

Forshee, who moved to Brookhollow Drive about two years ago, said neighbors who've lived there for decades told her the levels of Owasco Lake have never been this bad. Her boat, and those of some neighbors, already escaped once this summer, about a month ago. The dock was also damaged then, she continued, but not destroyed the way it was this week.

"I've only been on the boat for fun twice this year, and I had to rescue it twice this year," she said. "It's really been a struggle."

Further south at Camp Y-Owasco, the high water levels washed away about 15 kayaks, head counselor and lifeguard Rachel Pflueger told 水果派AV. The camp also lost some of its sailboats, its docks are completely submerged, its drainage pipes are clogged by rocks and logs that have washed into them, and its north driveway is closed due to overflowing gullies.

The camp itself was rained out as well, Pflueger said, as the conditions led several children and staff to miss the last few days of their summer at Y-Owasco.聽

"We are left with a lot of unsaid goodbyes," she said. "We are all left upset and devastated from this storm. No one expected the storm to be as dangerous as it was."

As of Thursday afternoon, the level of Owasco Lake is 714.47 feet, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The lake's flood stage is 715 feet. The Cayuga County Sheriff's Office issued a travel advisory Thursday morning that has since been lifted, and the city of Auburn advises "extreme caution" near the similarly high levels of the Owasco River.