In a blink, heavy rains turned into catastrophic floods last summer for Eric Jimenez and thousands of others in parts of Orange and Ontario counties. 

“My mind couldn't comprehend it because I've lived in flood zones prior, but I've never seen something so instant before," the Fort Montgomery homeowner said. 

Jimenez, a firefighter, had a plan to get his family out safely as water began rushing inside his home. A plan is part of the preparation that people should do as the National Weather Service declares this week, Flood Safety Awareness Week.

“And so, things like cleaning out your gutters, making sure that there's proper drainage around your home, taking your most important documents and putting them on your second floor," said New York Homeland Security and Emergency Services Commissioner Jackie Bray. 

Jimenez has done more to try and mitigate damage from devastating, once-in-a-century storms like last years'. He knows there’s only so much he can do, but hopes that keeping sandbags and extra subpumps around and eventually building a retaining wall, can help.

“Putting in drains, dry wells but those aren't going to help during something like that, unfortunately," he said. "There’s no way to stop Mother Nature."

What You Need To Know

  • The National Weather Service has declared March 11-15 as Flood Safety Awareness Week

  • It encourages individuals to make a plan and take precautions to be prepared in the event of flooding

  • New York state added a new vehicle to its Office of Fire Prevention and Control fleet. It's capable of getting into areas other vehicles can't to conduct water rescues

The state is also making changes to its plan. The state Office of Fire Prevention and Control will have new vehicles to respond to floods.

“These are designed to enter into areas where we can't get with a regular vehicle, a pickup truck or a large fire truck of that type," said Technical Rescue Branch Chief Robert Jewell. "We can get in with these vehicles, access folks, and bring them out to safety.”

Jimenez says he’d like to see the state do more with its plan, especially with how it responds to communities not in flood zones that are hit with flooding.

“There's also that gap between the people that don't live in a flood area, that don't have flood insurance and the financial assistance the state gives," he said. "The people in the middle there don't qualify for the assistance because of income and don't have insurance.”