Community | September 08, 2011 | 29 comments

Tropical storm Lee drenches the flooded Northeast

source: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/08/national/main20103143.shtml

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JanforGore
From Maryland to New England, the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee flooded roads and highways, swelled waterways and put emergency responders still weary from dealing with last week's cleanup back on alert.

As rivers and streams rose dangerously from flash flooding, many East Coast residents Wednesday began the now familiar process of bailing water from basements or even heading to public shelters.

At least one rain-related death was reported. Police in Derry Township, Pa., said a man who was removing water from his basement was killed when the house's foundation collapsed.

"Now it's getting on my last nerves," said Carol Slater, 53, of Huntersfield, N.Y., on the northern edge of New York's Catskill Mountains and just outside of hard-hit Prattsville.

As rain washed out the tennis matches for the second straight day at the U.S. Open in New York City, the National Weather Service predicted it would continue to fall heavily across the mid-Atlantic and Northeastern states through Thursday with anywhere from 4 to 7 more inches falling and up to 10 inches in isolated pockets. Flood watches and warnings were up throughout the region.

Tom Russell, meteorologist at CBS affiliate WHP in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, reports that homeowners in Little Falls, New Jersey can't seem to catch a break. The Passaic river is expected to keep rising, and not crest until this weekend.

"My wife's going into labor tonight. She's getting induced, so we have to get out of here, and with all this that's going on, it's insane," Little Falls resident Raffaelle LaGonigro lamented. "It's supposed to be a happy time, and right now she's stressed out, she's crying."

In Pennsylvania, rain set off flash flooding across a wide swath of the state, shutting down roads, closing some schools early and forcing evacuations.

"The same areas are getting hit repeatedly," by rain, said Larry Nierenberg, a national weather service spokesman who monitors an area that includes Greater Philadelphia and most of New Jersey.

On Wednesday, near Trenton, N.J., he said a half inch of rain fell in 10 minutes. "You get something like that and it can drop 2-3 inches of rain in an hour, and then it will move on."

New York positioned rescue workers, swift-water boats and helicopters with hoists to respond quickly in the event of flash flooding. Teams stood by in Vermont, which bore the brunt of Irene's remnants last week, and hundreds of Pennsylvania residents were told to flee a rising creek.

Areas of New York's Broome County, including portions of downtown Binghamton, were being evacuated Wednesday night as heavy rains caused flood levels on the Susquehanna River and other creeks and tributaries. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation was installing flood control gates in several locations throughout the county, according to a statement from Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who planned to tour the region on Thursday.

Numerous sections of the New York Thruway, including exit ramps, flooded Wednesday night and motorists were advised to take alternate roads, but many of them, too, were covered with water.

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29 comments // Tropical storm Lee drenches the flooded Northeast

  • coolplanet
  • JanforGore
  • Fishinflick
    • +2
      Fishinflick  
    • Image

    • NYSDEP in reviewing the hydro-fracking DSGEIS fails to commit to regulations before permitting begins. This during the worst flooding the state has seen in years, possibly a record breaker. How safe would you feel below one of these during hurricane season?

    • 9 months ago
  • Leen61
  • JanforGore
  • Leen61
    • +1
      Leen61  

    • Rachel Maddow just mentioned in breaking news that San Diego is having a massive blackout effecting 1.4 million people. 2 nuclear reactors have been forced to shut down.

    • 9 months ago
  • Gravity_Man
  • joeredford
    • +4
      joeredford [removed]  

    • I am trapped and stranded because the road is flooded at both ends. The crest of the local creeks is not coming untill tomorrow night . The pond is spilling over it's banks.
      Anyone know anyone who needs to be baptised?

    • 9 months ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • +2
      Gravity_Man  
    • joeredford:

      You have asked a very interesting question! Actually you can consider all of these disasters as a sort of "baptism" into whatever world we're going to end up being in.

      Hopefully one that isn't being flooded & burned down at the same time from hurricanes and tornadoes (firefighters in Texas yesterday mentioned they had seen a "fire tornado").

    • 9 months ago
  • joeredford
  • Hardytoo
  • joeredford
  • Hardytoo
    • +2
      Hardytoo  
    • joeredford:

      ooooo, I detect a little venom. I have a great respect for real live snakes - don't like them at all, but stay away out of respect. Other snakes? Uh-uh, will swing at them at every turn. Married one once, learned well..
      Stay safe joe.

    • 9 months ago
  • joeredford
  • Hardytoo
  • joeredford
  • Hardytoo
  • sue4e3
  • Fishinflick
    • +4
      Fishinflick  

    • Upstate NY is getting worse. A 105 mile stretch of interstate 90 is going to be closed near here - the Mohawk River jumped it's banks. That's the stretch my girlfriend needs to get to work later this week.

      This is getting more serious every hour. Counties to the west of us are going underwater one by one as more rivers flood out, first the Schoharie, then the Mohawk, soon the Chenango and the Susquehana and finally the Delaware where I keep a camper. I lost my old camper in the flood of '05. Never seen anything like all this rain, and more and more is coming. Unbelievable!

      I'm really concerned now with dam failure. The NYC reservoir system has dams all over many counties. Some of them in Putnam and Westchester counties would destroy major population centers if they blow out. Most of them are connected by tailwater streams. The ground around these structures just has to be over saturated. Can't find any info on how they're holding up. Sure hope they're looking at them.

      To the east of us the Housatonic just flooded out Pittsfield, MA - a thriving Berkshires center for the arts recently rebounding from poverty and neglect, what a shame. The Hoosic river is getting set to bust out at Eagle Bridge, NY.

      I chose to live within striking distance of all the rivers I've mentioned here because I love to fish them and be near them. I just can't tell you how intense the feeling of disconnect and unreality is for me, having enjoyed the most rewarding and peaceful times of my life on what's now become life-threatening furies unleashed.

      At least we're safe here living on high ground looking at the Hudson River across the street. I do wish I'd fixed the flashing on our chimney, we're likely to lose part of our kitchen ceiling pretty soon. But overall we're lucky so far.

    • 9 months ago
  • Wyley_Wombat
    • 0
      Wyley_Wombat  
    • Fishinflick:

      A friend of mine lives on the Delaware on the Pa side. He went down to Fla to go offshore fishing and he may not be able to get to his house when he returns tomorrow. The river has to rise 36 feet to get to his house and it probably will crest at 29 so his house is safe. It is at 26.5 now and the road is underwater. The main problem here is the road washing out. It has done that before when the river undermined the asphalt.

    • 9 months ago
  • Leen61
  • Fishinflick
  • squarethecircle
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • squarethecircle:

      Yep. Wilkes-Barre used ta drive though there many times on the way to our plant. They pride themselves on their churches [now being destroyed]. Wintry scenes of the Nativity pride of their religious postcards. All gone.

    • 9 months ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  

    • Roanoke Virginia 9/08/11 1pm: lazy clouds, some dark, no rain, blue sky (quite beautiful actually). No sign of bad weather in sight. Everything's right with the world. A small tornado several days ago decided to suddenly appear in Cana Virginia (on the NC line) taking out their only 1 or 2 gas pumps then disappeared. It was a Hit & Run tornado.

      Texas to the west is burning down, Northeast to the east is drowning, Roanokers are eating the porridge that's "just right" in the middle seat. No big bad wolfs in sight either.

    • 9 months ago
  • Gravity_Man
  • JanforGore
    • +2
      JanforGore  

    • It was a deluge last night on par with Irene without the wind. Texas got the wind and they need the rain. Of course, we will get that wind now supposedly from Katia as she remains offshore. The amount of rain we are getting and the frequency of it is not normal here. Not even for flood zones. And I am not really in a flood zone, but from what I see out my window today, we can't afford anymore deluges like this again this week or we will be floating too. Hmm, changing rainfall patterns, extreme events, disproportionate rainfall ... all signals of climate change and was predicted for this area by the IPCC report on climate change.

      But again, NOT ONE local media report said those words.

    • 9 months ago
  • Misti
  • JanforGore
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