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Ivan continues its path of destruction up north, here in & around the Pittsburgh area. Many towns are considered in a 'State of Emergency'. Actually I think all of southwestern PA, parts of Ohio and the entire state of WVA are included. It hasn't been windy yet but that comes later tonight thru early morning. Some areas received 5-7 inches of rain today and it was a record rainfall. It's still raining but not as heavy as what fell this afternoon. They say the rain should end around midnight, but then it's gonna get windy. (some convergence of stormfronts from south and west with differing pressures - or something like that)
The reports on the news show tons of flooding and lots of property damage. The flooding aint just from creeks and streams and rivers overflowing, but also mostly flash flood runoff from higher areas. If you're not familiar with the area, it's all hills and valleys and not many large flat areas. The runoff into the valleys is the greatest problem as there's no where for the water to go; at least not fast enough. Most every county is included here and no one is dry.
Continuing coverage on the local stations show water levels rising and should continue to all thru the night until sometime tomorrow afternoon.
There are a lot of wet people out there, some without any utilities. Traveling is not recommended. Lots of roads are closed do to rains and mudslides. Some roads have re-opened but I'm sure it's a mess. Now if we get that wind they're predicting, there will surely be more power outages do to fallen trees.
Sorry for the report of gloom & doom, but thought you might like to know in case you didn't already. Now, this won't end until the rains stop as they pass over the western side of the allegheny's, then begins to recede.
Incidentally, Mars is one of the towns (there are many) which got flood waters.
-------------------- Bill Cosharek Bill Cosharek Signs N.Huntingdon,Pa
bcosharek@juno.com Posts: 703 | From: N.Huntingdon, Pa, USA | Registered: Dec 1999
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bill iam from washington county, burgettstown/avella(30 yrs). i know how those floods go up there. also your ground up there is not a "soaker soil" no matter what time of yr it is that hard pack yellow clay sheds water, if it comes more then a trickle. on the up side did you see the pics of my yard in the post ivans rath? you just gettin a baby boy wet his diaper...heheheehe. at the hiegth of the storm here it was dumping 4-5 inches of rain AN HOUR!!! and the storm lasted from bout midnite till 6 am. granted that much rain didnt come every hour but for the time between 2-4 am....it was that or better. luckly where we are is high and dry. weve taken 12-14 inches of rain on the property and only had a couple small puddles in the driveway. iam glad your only getting a "wetting" hehehehehhe and not what we had.....
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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The local marina that I service is nearly wiped out. Most of the small craft were trailered out, but some cruisers and houseboats are gone. This was at 3pm, and it isn't supposed to crest till 8 tonight. The docks came up and over TOP of the pilings holding them in the river...
-------------------- Pete Sharkins MotoArts Decals and Signs New Kensington, PA motoarts@yahoo.com * All vinyl, all the time * Posts: 138 | From: New Kensington, PA | Registered: Mar 2004
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My cousin in Portsmouth, OH said Friday they let her school out at 11:30 AM. They got 5 inches of rain. National Guard told them to close the school NOW!
We got heavy rain in Columbus.
Debbie
-------------------- Debbie Posts: 674 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2001
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i just got a call from a freind in burgettstown and its under water.....another freind from ashville n.c. said they wont have power for 3 weeks.......man what a storm.....theis makes the PERFECT STORM look small.
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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Just got back from a weekend in Gettysburg with my cousin Maggie. She lives near Pittsburgh on Pine Creek. I cried when we got to her house. Her entire neighborhood was devastated. It looks like a war zone of mud and discarded posessions that were ruined from the flood. Raw sewage actually blew up through the plumbing in some homes. Most houses had at least a basement full of water but some had it up to the second floor. While we were in Gettysburg the local news station talked of the Susquehanna River flooding. I saw the marina Pete mentioned as we drove over it...what a mess. Love....Jill
-------------------- That is like a Mr. Potato Head with all the pieces in the wrong place. -Russ McMullin Posts: 8834 | From: Butler, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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Indiana county was declared a disaster area by the governor. We have a lot of creeks that are prone to flooding but this is the first time they've all flooded at once.
-------------------- Chris Welker Wildfire Signs Indiana, Pa Posts: 4254 | From: Indiana, PA | Registered: Mar 2001
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It was fortunate the wind was a 'no show' as the water did enough damage.
No one was prepared for this. There were no warnings that this would happen. All we had was the storm trackers' predictions where Ivan might go. So everyone expected to get more rain just like Francis dumped a week earlier. It wasn't until after Ivan arrived and dumped his load that the weather forecasters mentioned anything about the record amount of rainfall that Francis left and saturated the ground; filling up the water tables. So anything Ivan dumped would all be runoff. But where could flood prone places move stuff to, as the floods came to places no one would expect floods to occur.
I still wonder where they got all those people that showed up at the Pitt/Nebraska game played Saturday afternoon at Heinz Field. How did they get there with the mess the roads were in? Traveling was ill-advised with many places under marshall law. Both sides of the Parkway (major road access around Pittsburgh) were under water. There were no manned boats to ferry fans across to the south side parking; which was probably unaccessable anyway. ABC might've (of course I'm just guessing) pulled people in from the streets just so it looked like it was crowded more than it would've been; what with it being televised, with some shots from a blimp. The announcers downplayed the flooding saying, as a shot of the Point (where the Allegheny & Monongahela rivers converge and form the Ohio) was showing it submersed in water, as just from some heavy rain from a storm. But, then again, fan is short for fanatic and this is football.
It would be nice if this area received some federal aid. So Bush has visited Florida and North Carolina. He has a scheduled appearance in Greensburg on Wednesday for political campaign support. If all he does is visit non-flooded Gbg., there'll be many angry people. So we can only hope his visit passes through some of the devastated areas.
So now we know the ground is way too saturated to accept any more rainfall for awhile. Let's just hope that Ivan goes away and doesn't meet up with Jean then wait for Karl to combine and form a ... don't even want to think about it!
-------------------- Bill Cosharek Bill Cosharek Signs N.Huntingdon,Pa
bcosharek@juno.com Posts: 703 | From: N.Huntingdon, Pa, USA | Registered: Dec 1999
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-------------------- That is like a Mr. Potato Head with all the pieces in the wrong place. -Russ McMullin Posts: 8834 | From: Butler, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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-------------------- a.k.a. Brian Born www.CheckersCustom.com Harrisburg, Pa Work Smart, Play Hard Posts: 3775 | From: Harrisburg, Pa. U.S.A. | Registered: Nov 1998
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