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City’s DPW workers added flood preparation duties to ice and snow removal.
WILKES-BARRE – Mayor Tom Leighton heaped praise on city employees, who he said delivered “an outstanding performance” all week during difficult conditions.
“It’s been a tough week with the ice and snow and then the rains and potential flooding,” Leighton said. “At these moments when city residents need help the most, our employees – public works, police and fire – are always at their best and rise to the challenge.”
He said city crews were working all week to ensure that catch basin were clean and creeks were not clogged with any debris.
“It was a tireless effort during very harsh conditions,” Leighton said.
Butch Frati, the city’s director of operations, said he’s extremely proud of the performance of his 37 employees.
“I’ve said this before, but I can’t say enough about these guys,” Frati said. “They dealt with the ice and snow storm, with some of them working 16 hour shifts, then eight off and back on duty.”
He said that all week, with the added load of the snow, ice and flood preparations, the DPW picked up garbage and recycling items.
“And they had to deal with a potential flooding event in city,” Frati said. “Some worked through the night cleaning catch basins and assembling flood gates. They did everything they were told to do and did it well.”
DPW workers will be out today cold-patching streets to repair potholes, Frati said.
Drew McLaughlin, administrative coordinator for the city, said earlier Friday that the National Weather Service downgraded the Susquehanna River crest to 28 feet sometime early this morning.
“At that level, the river is not a threat to flood the Brookside area,” McLaughlin said. “It is unnecessary at this time to activate the Brookside protection system. The mayor and city officials continue to monitor the situation and will adapt our plans accordingly but at this time the threat of flooding appears to have passed.”
He said the flood wall on North Washington Street is in good condition and there are no concerns for flooding.
On Friday, the city opened the flood gates near Solomon Creek in South Wilkes-Barre. The Waller, Regent, and South Franklin Street bridges were opened by noon.
The creek level continued a steady drop, the danger of flash flooding had passed and the flood protection measure is no longer needed, McLaughlin said.