In Mount Pleasant, certainly not the hardest hit of the northern New York suburbs, Floyd dumped upwards of eight inches of rain in a very short time. The Pocantico River, as depicted on my old map, is by any account, a distinguishing feature. Finally turning due south, the river, whose name is now synonymous with the sprawling estates of the Rockefellers in nearby Pocantico Hills enters Hudson. The river is difficult to find on modern maps amid the highways and shopping malls that dominate in this era of suburban sprawl. The detailed U.S. Geological Survey topographic map shows the river with a reservoir called Pocantico Lake bulging near its mid-point.
Most maps omit it entirely.
Until Floyd hit, the river was harder to find on the ground. Channeled by culverts and ditches, completely covered over by roads, and diverted into reservoirs, it is hard to identify even as you cross it. When you do find it, for the short lengths you can follow it, storm drain run-off dominates its flow, and its course is sometimes dictated by corrugated steel pipes. Of the many roads crossing the Pocantico, most, if not all, fail to identify it to passing motorists. Many crossings are made without any indication whatsoever that water is passing beneath the road.