Flooding of the Susquehanna and Lackawanna Rivers
So... the Susquehanna River seriously overflowed its banks the past few days, thanks to Hurricane Lee. Hardest hit in my area were Duryea (where their "partial levee" failed against the Lackawanna River) and West Pittston (which doesn't have one at all). While the damages were pretty bad, they weren't nearly as devastating as those from the Agnes flood in '72 that completely wiped out Kingston, Forty Fort and a good chunk of Wilkes-Barre. That was thanks to levees that had been fortified since that time, (which in turn apparently exacerbated the West Pittston and Duryea problems). And this river crest actually exceeded the one in '72 by a foot or two:
(Source: Weather.gov. Note that the device started malfunctioning around 3pm Thursday for about six hours, at that odd, flatter part, and the next two points were presumably manual readings.)
The impact on me personally was relatively minor. I was at work when the evacuation orders hit at home Wednesday, and my employer then put me up at two different hotels. I wore the same clothes for four days and I didn't have my glasses after I took out my contacts each night, but generally, it wasn't a huge deal. I've been working a ton of overtime, which they needed, as many people couldn't make it in to work at all. Cat Lady had a far tougher time of it, stranded without power or running water, as her food supply started to disappear, and the river cut off our only access road on both sides; she was pretty much between a cliff and a wet place.
LoudTwitter and LiveJournal apparently didn't play nice with each other the entire time, and none of my live tweets (sent by cell) made it here. :-( Pretty frustrating, but, oh well. Here they are now:
Thursday 8 Sep
Here's Cat Lady's blog post on the matter:
Just wanted to give you a little insight into what it was like to be a "castaway." There were about 35 of us who chose to remain on our road. That choice was mainly made due to our having various and sundry pets. We all knew, definitely, that we were not in any danger. The only problem was that we could not leave because both entrances to our enclave were completely blocked.
That was all well and good until the power was turned off at 11:45 am on Thursday. I was going to learn later on that this was a deliberate power conservation shutdown. The power company had been told that our area was under evacuation orders. What they were not told was that most of us chose to remain. We were without power until 10AM Saturday.
David, as you know, was not here and had not been home since Wed. morning. The loneliness really got to me over time and the absolute darkness at night was hard to take. I started going to sleep around 7PM, when it got so dark in the house that I could not see without a flashlight.
We had all been told by the power company that power would be restored on Sunday at 10PM, so 36 hours earlier than that was an absolute blessing.
As of today, the road in and out of our area is open but the town of which we are a part is still under several feet of water. I feel lucky compared to the devastation that others have endured.
(Source: Weather.gov. Note that the device started malfunctioning around 3pm Thursday for about six hours, at that odd, flatter part, and the next two points were presumably manual readings.)
The impact on me personally was relatively minor. I was at work when the evacuation orders hit at home Wednesday, and my employer then put me up at two different hotels. I wore the same clothes for four days and I didn't have my glasses after I took out my contacts each night, but generally, it wasn't a huge deal. I've been working a ton of overtime, which they needed, as many people couldn't make it in to work at all. Cat Lady had a far tougher time of it, stranded without power or running water, as her food supply started to disappear, and the river cut off our only access road on both sides; she was pretty much between a cliff and a wet place.
LoudTwitter and LiveJournal apparently didn't play nice with each other the entire time, and none of my live tweets (sent by cell) made it here. :-( Pretty frustrating, but, oh well. Here they are now:
Thursday 8 Sep
- 12:08am Susquehanna River flooding. Property is high enuf, but sole road will b under water. Staying @ hotel by work so can come in Friday. [Yeah, yeah: obviously I shouldda said "Thursday".]
- 3:16am @ hotel. Still can't sleep. CL only 1 left on road. Scared but safe. Will get flooded both sides, effectively "island". Her house will b ok.
- 3:26am Lest u think me callose, (sp?) Agnes '72 was FAR worse flooding, & records show her property STILL stayed dry. [I do know how to spell "callous", just not at three in the morning.]
- 8:47am Awake. Slept 4h.
- 9:26am Breakfast. Hotel phones all keep ringing. Staff worn.
- 12:29pm CL lost power & thus water. She's scared.
- 7:20pm Looks like it'll hit 41ft, same level as Agnes in '72. Rumors of dam & levee failures. Even if they hold 2 spec, 41', still not good.
- 12:51am @ hotel abt 15 mi s of work.
- 8:27am Day 3. Was supposed 2 b my 1 day off b4 new shift. Now will b 9 days straight work.
- 9:23am V dense fog around Bear Creek
- 9:46am Cop only let me take 1 pic, but he was NOT happy abt it. Hope it got thru.
- 9:47am Susq Riv @ 39'; this levee designed 2 hold 2 41'. http://twitpic.com/6iaayq [Something's wrong with that page, but the full size page still works.]
- 2:05pm 41.4' @ 11am; pred 42.6' crest. Uh oh. (Earlier reports were that we already crested early this am.)
- 12:02am On top of everything else, 2nite is moving nite @ work; we all hadda move 2 new desks, new shifts, new bosses, etc.
- 12:48am Yes, i am @ Walmart @ 1am, buying bath'g suit.
- 1:05am Srsly low on gas, no 1,s open.
- 1:23am ... aaaand the hotel pool is closed. Yest musta been clerk 4getting, cuz twas open then.
- 10:20am Bit guilty 4 hot tub while CL no elec, but what can do? Most her food spoil, no light, computer. We're both using car chargers 4 cell ph,s.
- 4:46pm Looks like might b able 2 get home 2nite. Checked out of hotel by phone. Told them suit was drying in room; keep em or charity.
- 11:33pm CL got elec, water, internet earlier 2day. Apparently none of my tweets got thru 2 LJ. Will now try 2 drive home.
- 11:56pm Home!
Here's Cat Lady's blog post on the matter:
Just wanted to give you a little insight into what it was like to be a "castaway." There were about 35 of us who chose to remain on our road. That choice was mainly made due to our having various and sundry pets. We all knew, definitely, that we were not in any danger. The only problem was that we could not leave because both entrances to our enclave were completely blocked.
That was all well and good until the power was turned off at 11:45 am on Thursday. I was going to learn later on that this was a deliberate power conservation shutdown. The power company had been told that our area was under evacuation orders. What they were not told was that most of us chose to remain. We were without power until 10AM Saturday.
David, as you know, was not here and had not been home since Wed. morning. The loneliness really got to me over time and the absolute darkness at night was hard to take. I started going to sleep around 7PM, when it got so dark in the house that I could not see without a flashlight.
We had all been told by the power company that power would be restored on Sunday at 10PM, so 36 hours earlier than that was an absolute blessing.
As of today, the road in and out of our area is open but the town of which we are a part is still under several feet of water. I feel lucky compared to the devastation that others have endured.