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Wilkes-Barre Fire and EMS along with DPW workers shut the flood gates along Regent Street on Thursday in anticipation of flash flooding. The Regent Street Bridge opened in November 2008.
Aimee Dilger/The Times Leader
Wilkes-Barre firefighters shut the flood gates along Regent Street as the city braced Thursday for potential flash flooding.
Aimee Dilger/The Times Leader
WILKES-BARRE – Three bridges built with retractable flood gates will be put to the test if flash flooding occurs in South Wilkes-Barre from Solomon Creek.
City firefighters and crews from the Department of Public Works closed the flood gates on the South Franklin, Regent and Waller street bridges on Thursday.
The Barney Street Bridge will remain open.
“With the rain that is forecasted over the next 12 hours on top of what is on top of the city up in the mountains, this is a low lying area and has experienced flooding in the past, three times in the last four years,” Mayor Tom Leighton said. “We hopefully do not anticipate any problems, but this is why the bridges were designed this way to prevent the water from spilling over.”
Flood gates on the Barney Street Bridge will be closed if Solomon Creek appears to flood out of its channel.
It will be the first time the flood gates were opened since the bridges were replaced.
At a replacement cost of $11 million, the four bridges were constructed with 26-foot-long gates that swing open to create a channel for the water to remain within its banks.
The South Franklin Street Bridge opened in August 2006, the Waller Street Bridge in October 2006 and the Regent Street Bridge in November 2008. The bridge on Barney Street was the last bridge to open in August 2009.
Fire Chief Jay Delaney said it takes approximately 40 minutes to set up the flood gates on each bridge. Solomon Creek begins in Mountain Top and flows through Ashley, Hanover Township, South Wilkes-Barre and back into Hanover Township, discharging into the Susquehanna River.
At 8:30 a.m. Thursday, the creek was flowing calmly at less than 1 foot, according to the measurement scale along the wall near South Franklin Street. By 3 p.m., the creek had a much faster current at a level above 2 feet.
“We’re uncertain of what’s going to come down from the mountains,” Leighton said. “We don’t want to do this (closing flood gates) in the middle of the night.”
He said the flood wall, if need be, will be erected on North Washington Street today.
The wall prevents flooding from Mill Creek in the Brookside section of the city.
First reported at
9:05 a.m.
timesleader.com