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Flood situation like ’96, feds tell local officials
The Pennsylvania Army National Guard Armory on Susquehanna Avenue in West Pittston is sand bagged for anticipated flooding. Borough officials are monitoring river levels and crest predictions.
AIMEE DILGER photos/THE TIMES LEADER
A loader moves snow in West Pittston on Thursday morning near the corner of Routes 11 and 92.
Pumps have been brought in to the Hicks Creek pumping station to help during the possible flooding.
Bins of merchandise are moved out of the Edwardsville Kmart on Thursday in preparation for a possible flood.
Naz Baldoni keeps an eye on the rising Solomon Creek in Wilkes-Barre. The creeks run through heavily populated neighborhoods, and city officials were watching them closely
AIMEE DILGER/THE TIMES LEADER
Municipalities spent much of Thursday stockpiling sandbags and closing flood gates on bridges in anticipation of flash flooding on streams and creeks overnight and today.
It won’t be until Saturday that flooding by the Susquehanna River will likely occur in several communities.
The National Weather Service in Binghamton, N.Y., during two closed-door conferences provided updates to Luzerne County and municipal emergency management officials on what to expect from the latest storm to hit the area.
“What the weather service guys are suggesting, and it’s a pretty good comparison, is the January 1996 flood event where we had lots of snow from the blizzard and then we had a very rapid snow melt with warm temperatures,” said Jim Brozena, executive director for the county flood protection authority. “This storm will be pretty close.”
The blizzard and flood 15 years ago included an evacuation of the Wyoming Valley.
Officials do not anticipate a similar event.
“There are a couple of different things we can look at,” Brozena said. “That was before we started the levee-raising project. And we have now completed all of that. The Wyoming Valley, at least behind the levees, is protected to a much higher standard. For those unprotected communities, they need to be on the lookout.”
The levees protect most of the Wyoming Valley up to 41 feet.
The river was forecasted to reach around 31 feet between 4 a.m. and 9 a.m. Saturday, said Steve Bekanich, coordinator for the county EMA. But the crest level might change depending on how much rain falls and how much of the snow pack melts in the upper Susquehanna River basin. As of 8:39 p.m. Thursday NWS projections showed a crest of 30 feet, right at major flood stage, at 7 a.m. Saturday.
Thursday night, the NWS issued a flash flood warning for central Luzerne County and there were reports of some street flooding and basement flooding in some areas.
Bekanich said he would be part of the skeleton crew that would be in the Emergency Operations Center overnight to monitor the river level.
“A level of 31 feet, that affects West Pittston by getting it on the roads and we’ll get a couple basements flooded,” said West Pittston Mayor William Goldsworthy. “But they said there is a variance of 2 feet, plus or minus. Two feet makes a big difference.
“If it gets up to 33, 34, or 35 feet, we’ll have about 100 homes affected,” he noted.
Goldsworthy said a large pile of sand and sandbags were delivered in the borough Thursday in case they are needed. The Wyoming Area High School football team will be available today to help residents move items.
Low-lying areas of Susquehanna Avenue and North Street in West Pittston will flood if the river hits 32 feet.
“We’re ready,” Goldsworthy added.
In Edwardsville, Kmart employees were busy removing merchandise from the store in the Mark Plaza on Route 11 in anticipation of flooding from Toby Creek.
When the river reaches 26 feet, Toby Creek backs up and floods the parking lot and shopping center. Merchandise from the store was being loaded into trailers to be hauled to a distribution center in Hanover Township out of the flood zone.
“We have two things to deal with,” Brozena said. “The heavy rains are going to come overnight that will probably cause flash flooding on the streams. Once that will dissipate tomorrow, then the river will start coming up.”
The Wyoming Area High School football team will be available today to help residents move items out of basements.