BINGHAMTON, New York — Harvest season couldn’t be more tranquil in Upstate New York, with sunny days near 80 degrees and chilly nights that call for a sweatshirt.
The quiet is a relief to a region that’s confronted tornadoes, hail and an increasingly common menace — flooding rains — throughout the 2024 growing season. But everyone seems convinced the break won’t last.
This stretch of the Empire State, like many regions of the country, is learning to manage with weather events that once were rare but by most accounts are becoming a regular part of life. For farmers and others in rural communities, the next weather-related disaster, fueled in part by climate change, always seems less than a season away.
In the latest reflection of the trouble, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul this week asked for a federal disaster declaration in many counties to help pay for debris removal and other work related to floods caused by tropical storm Debby in early August.
