PLATTSBURGH — They fear the south wind.
Wednesday night and then Thursday, Rich and Susan Daul and neighbors filled 500 sandbags, packing them into a wall to protect their home on Eagle Acres Road on Chazy Landing.
With Lake Champlain at an all-time high, wind from the south whips up waves that prove an even bigger threat.
Though it came from that direction, rising through the afternoon, a shift to the southwest was forecast.
That would help, Mr. Daul said.
"So far, it's holding it off. But they're predicting rain for tonight. If we don't get the real heavy winds, we might get lucky."
With rain expected for much of the 10 days coming, Mrs. Daul urged her husband to rent a truck so they could move their furniture and belongings to higher ground.
Their seawall was completely underwater, and water was inching closer to their foundation. Pumps were keeping the basement dry so far.
"You can't stop the lake," Mrs. Daul said.
MUDDY WATER
Nor the river.
The Great Chazy River washed over Lakeshore Road in the Town of Champlain hamlet of Coopersville Thursday morning, surrounding David's Boat Repair.
Brian LaFountain directed traffic at the spot, part of a Clinton County Highway Department crew there; long-time residents told him they had never seen water levels that high.
It ponded across Deyo Road and in yards just north of the Great Chazy Boat Launch; homes there appeared dry, but a white garage sat in the midst of river-water overflow.
Both sides of Lakeshore Road were inundated where the mouth of the river meets Lake Champlain. A band of muddy water extended into the lake from shorelines, marking erosion all along Chazy Landing.
'LAPOINTE MOAT'
There was nothing small about the Little Chazy River at the corner of Lakeshore Road and LaPointe Drive in Chazy; rather, it seemed an extension of the lake with acres and acres of flooded farm fields.
Water surrounded the camp on the corner and lapped at the Lapointe Road home of Joseph and Tammy Braun. They had water from the river on three sides and accessed their home via a series of wooden planks.
"It's Lapointe Moat now. I've never seen it like this," Mr. Braun said. "This is the epitome of 'into everyone's life a little rain must fall.'"
When Mrs. Braun took their 4- and 5-year-old daughters to day care earlier that day, both girls were scared by the rising water.
"They don't understand. They want us to make the water go away," she said.
The water came up during the high winds Saturday but went back down quickly, her husband said. Their driveway was dry Wednesday morning, and there was only a little water in the yard.
Thursday, both were under about 2 feet of water. The couple figured the many belongings they had stored in their garage were ruined, with more than 2 feet of water in there.
They stowed packed suitcases in the kitchen in case they need to evacuate if more water comes after the predicted storms. Family members have offered them a place to stay if needed.
Water covered most of the steps to their deck at the rear of the house, and only the cap of their well was above water. They pointed to the dual tree lines that usually mark the banks of the Little Chazy River.
"It's not so little anymore," Mr. Braun said.
NO INSURANCE
Mrs. Braun said it was frustrating that they were not able to get flood insurance when they refinanced their home several years ago — they were told they didn't qualify because of their location.
They operate a disc jockey and photography business.
Mrs. Braun said it was lucky they had moved the trailer with all that equipment to a neighbor's yard the night before.
She measured the water in a wheelbarrow to show how much rain they received in the last few days. It held about 5 inches.
On the bright side, one of their daughters loves ducks, and there were now several in their yard.
"She asked if we could put some bread out for them," Mrs. Braun said.
MARINA TROUBLES
Stony Point Road in the Town of Champlain just south of Rouses Point was closed Thursday afternoon.
So was Champlain's Point au Fer Road, first to all but local traffic. And then, when the waters deepened later in the day, fed by still-rising Lake Champlain, only locals whose vehicles had high clearance could get through. A fire department brush truck guided them in and through as much as a foot of water on Point au Fer Road near Scales Road.
Sportsman's Pier in Rouses Point was flooded, and waves crashed over the seawall at the Log Cabin Motel, which had already sustained damage when Saturday's high winds pushed the lake ashore in many spots.
Joe Treadwell, owner of Gaines Marina, said he and his crew had dumped more than 40 loads of crushed rock and placed 30 large cement barriers along the southern edge of the breakwater to protect the boats still on winter storage stands atop it. They had raised the surface about 2 feet, but waves continued to break over the top.
"We had to launch about 20 boats to keep them from falling in," Treadwell said.
He said none of the boats or docks had suffered any damage early Thursday afternoon.
TREE LOST
In Coopersville, the Great Chazy crept steadily higher Thursday, threatening homes. At the far end of Bechard Road, Thomas Weightman studied the river and shook his head over the large poplar — 32 inches around and 100 feet tall — in his backyard that was felled Saturday, undermined by flooding and pushed over by strong winds.
"We're concerned about the rest of (the trees)," he said. "That wind is coming up, and the river's going to get higher."
His log home sits on high ground, but he knew other homes on the street were at risk.
Andre Bouchard's house, for one.
"His pump is running all the time," Weightman said. "I don't think I've ever seen it as bad as this."
Email Suzanne Moore at: smoore@pressrepublican.com
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