According to Tony Rhodin of the Express-Times, the threat of flooding along the Delaware has now been elevated to a major threat, with projections on par with the flood of 2004. The high water
mark is expected to reach 32 feet by 6pm on Monday. It's important to remember that floods usually happen after rainfall is over, as water continues to run off over already saturated floodplains.
Please be careful everybody, and if you don't have a plan already, and you are in the flood zone, please arrange to have somewhere to go. Take all valuables to your highest floors, and remember DO NOT DRIVE ON A FLOODED STREET--it only takes 12" or less to sweep a car off the road. Here's the projected flood chart from Rhodin's article for Easton:
This chart from the weather service shows the impact of various depths of water in the Delaware in Easton:
- 41 (feet) THE INTERSECTION OF THIRD AND ROSE STREETS IN PHILLIPSBURG BEGINS TO FLOOD.
- 39 UNION SQUARE IN PHILLIPSBURG IS FLOODED.
- 38 APPROACH ROADS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE NORTHAMPTON STREET BRIDGE FLOOD.
- 34 PORTIONS OF NORTH DELAWARE DRIVE IN EASTON, CLOSEST TO THE RIVER, BEGINS TO FLOOD.
- 31 NORTH MAIN STREET AT BROAD STREET IN PHILLIPSBURG IS FLOODED.
- 28 SAWMILL STREET IN PHILLIPSBURG BEGINS TO FLOOD DUE TO A COMBINATION OF DELAWARE RIVER FLOODING AND BACKWATER EFFECTS FROM THE LOPATCONG CREEK.
- 26 FLOODING OCCURS IN EASTON UP TO RIVERSIDE STREET.
- 25 PORTIONS OF BUSHKILL DRIVE AND ROUTE 611 ARE FLOODED DUE TO A COMBINATION OF DELAWARE RIVER FLOODING AND BACKWATER EFFECTS ON BUSHKILL CREEK.
- 24 LARRY HOLMES DRIVE IN EASTON IS SUBJECT TO FLOODING. RIVERSIDE WAY IN PHILLIPSBURG IS FLOODED IN THE AREA OF THE BOAT RAMP.
- 20 MINOR FLOODING BEGINS UPSTREAM IN HARMONY STATION NEW JERSEY AND SANDTS EDDY PENNSYLVANIA.
- 18 BACKWATER FROM THE DELAWARE CAUSES FLOODING IN EASTON ALONG THE LEHIGH RIVER
Please continue to check the NOAA web site for flood warnings for your zip code and be careful!
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14 comments:
I was down at a friend's house along the river this afternoon helping move stuff from the basement to higher ground. She had her house rebuilt at a safe elevation after the recent Delaware problems. Water is at least 12-15 ft below problem level but you can certainly see it inching up the backyards.
Took a bike ride along the Delaware at 11:30 am Sunday and the only section under water was the low point under the PA side of the free bridge approach. As of 4:30pm the whole bike path is impassable.
I woke up at 4am this morning to the sound of crashing and breaking glass followed a few seconds later by a very bright flash of light and a loud sharp popping noise and then loss of power.
A very large tree on the Easton Heights Cemetery property fell across N 12th Street and took out the power lines, blew a transformer, partially pulled the telephone pole over and knocked the new street light housing out of the mounts (the breaking glass noise).
I hope it means they don't put that hideous orange, cobra head fixture back...I hate those damn things - like living in a prison yard.
So as of 8:30 this morning I have no power and transferred my food by cooler load to my office refrigerator; have about two inches of water in the basement from a leaky foundation with no power to vac it up and my tenant next door knocked on the door to tell me they have water leaking through the attic and bedroom ceilings (probably wind driven rain under the shingles).
So the week is off to a great start...but at least the street light is gone.
DRL
Wow. Goes to show that in a storm like this, it's not just residents in the low-lying areas that are affected, although after seeing the photos of flooding from Forks near the river, I have to say that one of the advantages to living in the West Ward is that it's high on the hill...
Turns out all five boroughs in New York did flood after all, just not nearly as far as people had feared. The subways still aren't running and a lot of tree branches are down, which caused power outages to 62,000 people. But where I am, it was just really windy all day today--no major events--the sun even peeked out for a few minutes this morning as the center of the storm passed over us...
Good luck with basement...Transbridge service between New York and the Lehigh Valley has been suspended and Port Authority has been closed, but both are planning to resume regular schedules tomorrow, so I should make it back in time to see the river at its highest...
Good news--the ET says the Delaware is expected to crest at 27.2 feet--4 feet lower than expected. that's got to be good news for a lot of folks. It will crest around 8pm tonight...
why is it that people bring thier children to see the water nearing flood stage....I yuv u Noel Marie...tunsie
Delaware stayed in its banks. Bushkill caused most of the damage again this time as more and more housing subdivisions and industrial parks are being built north of the city. The Bushkill is nothing more than a storm water tributary when we get rain stormes like this one. Other than rain storms its a great natural trout producing stream.
Power has been restored to the Harlan and Walter House for senior citizens and Met-Ed has been out throughout the weekend bringing extra help in from Ohio. Lafayette College should have their power restored sometime today.
Other businesses like McDonald's and Wawa along the Lehigh closed last evening as a precaution.
Most road closures were and are due to downed power lines, not flooding.
We prepared for the worst and hoped for the best. our hopes came true -- unless you are one of the residents still without power.
Thanks to police, fire and public service employees for a great job. I was out with them all weekend and they did well.
Not just for aestetic reasons but why arent power lines run underground...I think it is safer,and if a tree falls down U wont have a live wire down with the potential of electrocute someone.....I yuv noel marie...tunsie
Thanks for posting, Mayor.
We are certainly lucky. The footage from upstate NY and Vermont is devastating.
Vermont has been declared a federal disaster zone:
http://topics.cnn.com/topics/floods
Well, we're definitely counting our blessings. Dennis sorry to hear about the troubles, we'll talk. Power back ups for things like small sump pumps don't actually cost that much and can be run from your car. We did a walking tour of college hill, and parts of Easton proper Yesterday and the city employee's were everywhere. Nice, quick, well orchestrated response on the part of all city services (where do I get one of those Sal Panto for mayor signs BTW?).
Anywho just some broken branches and slightly gummed up windows for us. On the whole we got off a lot easier than anyone could have expected. Those who pray may want to consider sending up at least a few quick thank yous.
Well, morning all. Need more coffee.
David
List of roads that are still closed due to flooding:
Northampton County:
Lehigh Drive between Fourth and Adamson streets in Easton
Route 611 between Cedarville Road and Smith Avenue in Easton
River Road between River Road and Marshfield Drive in Upper Mount Bethel Township
Henry Road between Jacobsburg Road and Schoeneck Avenue in Bushkill Township
Weaversville Road between Hanover Street in Hanover Township and South Halbea Street in East Allen Township
Hope Road between Unknown and Freemansburg roads in Bethlehem Township
Durham Road between County Line and Stouts Valley roads in Williams Township
Lehigh County:
Stonesthrow/Church Road between Honeysuckle and Stonesthrow roads in Upper Saucon Township
Honeysuckle Road between Stonesthrow Road in Upper Saucon Township and East Rock Road in Salisbury Townshi
Fairview Road between Emmaus Avenue and Susquehanna Street in Salisbury Township
Limeport Pike between Kings Highway and Spinnerstown Road in Lower Milford Township
Jordan Road between Haasadahl Road in Upper Macungie Township and Route 309 in South Whitehall Township
Schantz Road between Hamilton Boulevard in Lower Macungie Township and Cetronia Road in Upper Macungie Township
Vera Cruz Road/Shimerville Road between Fifth Street in Upper Milford Township and Route 145 in Upper Saucon Township
Schochary Road between Flint Hill and Zeisloff roads in Lynn Township
Mosserville/Mountain Road between Kings Highway and Appalachian PY in Lynn Township
Unfortunately we still have several sections of the city without electricity. I am on the phone regularly trying to get Met-Ed to repair but they have a lot of people without power throughout their service area.
We will stay on top of them to keep working around the clock.
David thanks for recognizing the good work of our employees, they really did a great job. (BTW - we'll see that you get a sign LOL)
Mayor,
Anything you can do for Chidsey Street would be greatly appreciated. We are approaching 72 hrs without power.
I am sure you have alreay heard from one of my neighbors, whose 88 yr old, invalid mother lives next door to her and doesn't have a land line phone.
She was treated poorly by Met-Ed, who first made excuses for not coming out that were proven to be invalid and then told her that the 25 people on my street are insignificant to them.
Wrong thing to say.
DRL
Good grief. Mayor Panto, please give Met-Ed a talking-to!
Chidsey Street was restored earlier this afternoon. Still pressuring for other areas in the city.
Wow--that took Met-Ed almost 4 days?!
Glad you have your power back, Dennis--at least you are able-bodied... I feel so bad for the 88 year old woman on your street.
Mayor Panto, did Met-Ed give a reason for why it took so long to repair?
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