Tuesday 27 June 2006
The Big Flood?
When the steady rains started falling, I wasn't even particularly concerned, because we'd been in a drought, and everything was bone dry, and I figured the ground could easily soak it up well enough.
But as it turns out, the ground in Northeastern Pennsylvania and about saturated within a matter of 2 days.
Between Scranton and Falls, I saw several farm fields under water, and many parts of the road were covered in water with run off and huge puddles.
It was too dark, raining too hard, and too treacherous to take any good photos.
This one was taken of the little bridge in Falls. The road was covered in water, though people were still driving over it, as the water slushed up against the bridge, splashing over the guard rails.
(In the photo, the water splashing up against the guard rail can be seen in 2 spots, the darkness you see underneath the guard rail.)
(I dared not to cross it to get to the Falls Bridge, because I was afraid I wouldn't get back, and might have to go to New York in order to get back to Scranton.)
'The Cottage' was inaccessible, due to a creek flooding over the road leading to it. I couldn't see the road on the other, the road was flooded so wide. I could hear trees breaking, and even saw one break, right in front of me, from the force of the flowing water.
From Rte 2013 in Falls, along the river & railroad track, the river looked far higher than the reported 14 feet that was being reported at the time. It looked more like times I'd seen the river when they were reporting it at 25 feet. (I suppose there could've been a discrepancy upstream from the Wilkes-Barre measuring station.)
At this point, they're calling for a crest in Wilkes-Barre at 38 feet.
NOAA Susquehanna River @ Wilkes-Barre
What this means for my family's cottage:
At 31ft, the water laps over the river bank. (See April 3rd 2005 & April 4th 2005)
At 32ft, the water is covering the lawn between the cottage and the riverbank.
At 33ft, the water is lapping at the structure.
At 34ft, the water is inside the cottage.
At 35ft, there's almost a foot of water in the first floor. (See September 18th 2004)
At 38ft, I believe the entire first floor is under water, and there's at least a foot of water in "the little cottage" behind it (which is up a little bit of a hill).
This is bad news all around, because if the entire first floor is flooded, not only is there damage, but everything inside floats around doing damage. The cottage will be lucky if it stays on the foundation in the conditions they're forecasting now.
And the raising of the levee in Wilkes-Barre, some say, has actually worsened the situation of flooding in Falls, so it may well be more serious, for the cottage, than the 1972 flood, even if the water level is lower.
The crest is predicted for the morning of Thursday, June 29th. In other words, don't expect photos of the destruction before the weekend when the waters will have, hopefully, receded to a point where the destruction is accessible.
The rain is still coming down steady here in Scranton. I'm starting to consider building an ark.
posted by Chloe | Tuesday 27 June 2006 11:58 PM
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