FOX23 in Albany: "Canal Businesses Took Hit from June Flooding"

Flooding damaged Erie Canal boating business this summer. From the AP via Fox News ("Canal Businesses Took Hit from June Flooding," loaded Sept. 19, 2006):

(Utica, N.Y.) AP -- Too much water wasn't a good thing this year for the New York state canal system.

The severe flooding that hit parts of upstate New York in late June closed sections of the Erie Canal for two weeks at the height of the summer boating season. That put a dent in the bottom line for many of the canalside businesses that rely on boaters for much of their summertime trade.

According to state officials, the canal locks handled 80,000 boat passages from late April through early August last year. During the same period this year, that number was about 57,000.