Anyone Flooded in the Northeast? (June, 2006)

[AGBF]

I left Connecticut and drove through the mid-Atlantic states in torrential rain only to live through several days of the same weather here in the metropolitan DC area. Connecticut was flooding while Virginia was still dry, but now most of the areas around me are under flood warnings and one is under a tornado watch. I read that New Mexico was hit by flash floods, too. Has anyone posting here been affected by rains and floods in the past few days?

 

[Kaleigh]

I''m drowning here. Nah, but it''s really bad outside of Philly. Tomorrow, they say we will get the worst flooding in over 30 years. Enough already, it''s like friggin Noah''s Ark. UGHHH.

 

[MINE!!]

We have had a lot of rain here as well Deb. We have flash flood warnings and the river flooded a bit as well... we have had no major damage.. but everyone is still jumpy from Floyd so many years ago. It looks pretty bad north and west of us though..

 

[Diam100]

Well I''m not flooded here in NYC but you should see my hair from the humidity... can anyone picture a Q-Tip puffed out?

 

[Kaleigh]

Date: 6/27/2006 8:51:58 PM
Author: Diam100
Well I''m not flooded here in NYC but you should see my hair from the humidity... can anyone picture a Q-Tip puffed out?

Me too, worst hair day ever.

 

[hlmr]

Date: 6/27/2006 8:57:25 PM
Author: Kaleigh

Date: 6/27/2006 8:51:58 PM
Author: Diam100
Well I''m not flooded here in NYC but you should see my hair from the humidity... can anyone picture a Q-Tip puffed out?

Me too, worst hair day ever.

Heehee - puffed out hair for me and my DS too - if only we were back in the eighties!

 

[Diam100]

Date: 6/27/2006 9:01:48 PM
Author: hlmr

Date: 6/27/2006 8:57:25 PM
Author: Kaleigh

Date: 6/27/2006 8:51:58 PM
Author: Diam100
Well I''m not flooded here in NYC but you should see my hair from the humidity... can anyone picture a Q-Tip puffed out?

Me too, worst hair day ever.

Heehee - puffed out hair for me and my DS too - if only we were back in the eighties!

Haha and to think I teased my hair in the eighties with Aquanet & boy does anybody remember a product called "Stiff-Stuff" hairspray?? I''m dating myself but darn my hair has freaked out this week.

 

[jadeleaves]

Stay safe!

No, I''m not in the northeast, and no it''s not flooded here in Melbourne, but it''s very very cold and dreary today.

And I am posting to give AGBF a nudge because you were going to post bread recipes for me here.

*nudge nudge*

Pretty please?

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

I feel for the folks in flood country--it was a year ago (actually Father's Day 2005) that after two weeks of solid rain (broke a 100 year record for precipitation) our basement flooded. The rains devistated our Province and it tooks people months to recover...some repairs in our City parks still are underway....
This year saw some rain and flash flooding but not a repeat of last year's scenario--much to our relief....altho I did get a nice brown Gucci bag out of my wet-vaccing efforts.....

keep dry--Sharon

 

[Kaleigh]

Date: 6/27/2006 9:33:23 PM
Author: canuk-gal
HI:

I feel for the folks in flood country--it was a year ago (actually Father''s Day 2005) that after two weeks of solid rain (broke a 100 year record for precipitation) that our basement flooded. The rains devistated our Province and it tooks people months to recover...some repairs in our City parks still are underway....
This year saw some rain and flash flooding but not a repeat of last year''s scenario--much to our relief....altho I did get a nice brown Gucci bag out of my wet-vaccing efforts.....

keep dry--Sharon

I remember that Sharon you posted pics of you with that wet-vac. Love the purse, at least something good came out of it.

 

[canuk-gal]

Date: 6/27/2006 9:37:46 PM
Author: Kaleigh

Date: 6/27/2006 9:33:23 PM
Author: canuk-gal
HI:

I feel for the folks in flood country--it was a year ago (actually Father''s Day 2005) that after two weeks of solid rain (broke a 100 year record for precipitation) that our basement flooded. The rains devistated our Province and it tooks people months to recover...some repairs in our City parks still are underway....
This year saw some rain and flash flooding but not a repeat of last year''s scenario--much to our relief....altho I did get a nice brown Gucci bag out of my wet-vaccing efforts.....

keep dry--Sharon

I remember that Sharon you posted pics of you with that wet-vac. Love the purse, at least something good came out of it.

HI:

Good memory K. I too love my purse--albeit it is something of "painful" reminder of what we went thru.......we gladly drank vintage Port on this Father''s Day...

cheers--Sharon

 

[FacetFire]

Oh no! My BF is stuck up in Philly because his flights have been delayed/cancelled to no end today. He''s been gone for a bit and I was so looking forward to seeing him again. I''m just hoping he manages to get through tomorrow!

 

[Kaleigh]

Ok I''ve just about had it. The rain is pouring down like I''ve never heard it before, it''s CRAZY. Hubby is away and I''m scared a big old tree will fall on the house. Can''t sleep worth a dang.

 

[njc]

Commuting here around the DC area as been a major pain in the a$$. The metro hasnt been able to run all the stops on the red line I believe, VRE trains were either canceled or running on a reduced schedule and major roads in and around DC have been closed due to flooding a major one being ALL THE LANES of the beltway between I-95 and the Wilson Bridge on Monday morning. Many offices were closed and are still closed due to flooding in the buildings or no electricity.

Luckily, our house has been okay, but I have had some trouble driving to work... hopefully the sun today will start drying everything out!

 

[BeaudryBabe]

I''m in New Hope, PA, yes, the little artisan town that is always on the news when it floods. We are not flooded as we are two blocks, uphill, from the river, but alot of our neighbors are in for some serious flooding overnight. The river is expected to crest at 3:00am, 34 feet, yikes!

Our township has declared and emergency and made evacuations mandatory. Here we go again...

 

[Odilia]

I live in the area affected by this:

(I live in the Aspen Hill area, but hopefully not in immediate danger from this potential flood. We weren't told to evacuate.)

ROCKVILLE, Md. - A flash flood warning for Montgomery County is in effect until 8 p.m. Wednesday as engineers continue to assess the Lake Needwood dam. Early Wednesday Montgomery County evacuated 2,233 people who live near Lake Needwood in Rock Creek Regional Park.

Lake Needwood was formed along Rock Creek. The dam is north of the Twinbrook, Viers Mill and Aspen Hills areas east of the city of Rockville. If the dam breaks, it could send flood waters into low-lying areas at a depth of up to 19 feet.

"The estimates of the amount of water that could flow with the failure are what we based our evacuation plan on," says Montgomery County's Director of Homeland Security Gordon Aoyagi.

"Based on the reports of the experts and out of an abundance of caution, we felt it prudent to launch a mandatory evacuation," said Montgomery County Chief Administrative Officer Bruce Romer, during a 5:40 a.m. news conference.

Officials went door-to-door overnight alerting people about the mandatory evacuation.

Romer says the 2,233 people evacuated lived in 500 apartments at the Rock Creek Terrace apartment complex on Viers Mill Road and in 700 single family homes in that area.

He says 99 people refused to be evacuated and another 130 did not answer their doors.

"We found we had little or no communication problems with our residents, and generally our residents were very cooperative," Romer says.

 

[AGBF]

The following were excerpted from, "The New York Times":

"Rivers and streams across the Northeast, swollen by days of heavy rain, are spilling over their banks, threatening to devastate communities from Virginia to Vermont. Thousands of people have been evacuated from homes and businesses, and at least nine people have been killed, the authorities said.


Residents who live along the Delaware River were evacuated from their homes because of expected flooding.

States of emergency were declared in some areas by the governors of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia, and by flood-affected counties in New York and Delaware. National Guard soldiers were called out in several areas to help with rescue work.

''We''re standing on a spot that, in the next 24 to 36 hours, we expect to be under water,'' Gov. Jon S. Corzine of New Jersey said today in downtown Trenton, in a neighborhood a few blocks from the Delaware River where about 1,500 residents were ordered out of their homes. The city opened a shelter at a nearby school to take in people fleeing the floodwaters.

Though the rains have largely ended in the region, the ground is saturated and roadways and streams in several states have become rushing torrents, deluging homes and businesses.

The Susquehanna flooded parts of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., today, and emergency officials ordered 200,000 evacuated from there and surrounding communities in Luzerne County. The river also threatened to top flood walls in Binghamton, N.Y.

Heavy rains undermined a section of Interstate 88 in Sidney, N.Y., 35 miles northeast of Binghamton, killing two truck drivers early this morning and forcing the closing of two highway bridges.

The Roanoke River in Virginia, the Schuylkill in Pennsylvania, and the Mohawk and Neversink rivers and Esopus and Rondout creeks in New York also flooded, forcing evacuations of residents and inundating homes, offices and streets.

The overflowing Cattail Brook in Livingston Manor, N.Y., suddenly swept one house entirely away. Officials said a 16-year-old girl was in the house, and is missing and presumed dead. John Parker, a neighbor who saw it happen, said rescue workers had been trying to reach the girl, whom he identified as Jamie Bertholf, a classmate of his daughter''s, when the house collapsed into the river. ''It was just gone,'' he said.

So unpredictable and widespread was the potential for devastation that the National Weather Service issued flood warnings or watches for eight states, even as the sun began to shine in much of the area.

Jeff Warner, a meteorologist at Pennsylvania State University, said that the flooding was partly the result of a stalled storm system over the region that dumped several inches of rain on a widespread area. Most summer storms tend to be much more focused in extent, he said.

''In a typical summer storm, if one area gets five inches of rain, the rivers and streams can handle it,'' he said. ''But if you put five inches of rainfall over hundreds of square miles, all draining into the same river basins, it''s going to lead to significant flooding.''

He said most of the flooding seemed to be in the hills of eastern Pennsylvania, central New York, western New Jersey and Delaware. In New Jersey, the governor also ordered some state buildings emptied in the afternoon. The State House was kept open, although the main route to the building, Route 29, was closed for several miles from downtown Trenton north to Interstate 95, so that legislators could continue their frantic negotiations to approve a budget by the midnight Friday deadline.

After several relatively dry decades, residential areas upriver from downtown Trenton have now been flooded and evacuated three times in two years.

Carol Sanderson, a 24-year resident of a neighborhood called the Island that was being evacuated in Trenton, stood with three of her four daughters at a barricade and recalled how she and her husband had spent weeks cleaning up mud and mold after the last flood.

''Just the other day,'' Ms. Sanderson said, ''I said, ''It''s past April, we''re going to be O.K. Then I went down Route 29, looked at the Delaware and I said, well, we''re next.''

In coastal areas of the state, the Department of Environmental Conservation monitored bacteria levels at beaches, which often increase to unsafe levels with flooding.

Elaine Makatura, a spokesman for the agency, said higher levels of enterococci bacteria had been seen at bay beaches but not so far at ocean beaches.

In New York State, flooding, which hit Broome and Delaware counties hardest, has caused at least three deaths and sent hundreds of people into shelters, according to Donald L. Maurer of the Emergency Management Office in Albany.

In Binghamton, a levy protecting downtown from the Chenango River was breached by flood waters this morning, and 400 people were evacuated to a Red Cross shelter at Binghamton University in Vestal, a suburb. The Chenango and Susquehanna rivers meet in the middle of the city.

New York State Police divers and boats were helping people evacuate, including residents of three nursing homes.

To the east of Binghamton, some 120 National Guardsmen were deployed to help with evacuations in the town of Walton, in another flood-prone area. Asked about flood damage to homes, Mr. Maurer said, ''I don''t think it''ll look as dramatic as New Orleans, but if it''s your house ... .''

Extensive flooding in Sullivan County, where the upper reaches of the Delaware River drain the Catskill Mountains, led to evacuations of thousands of people to fire stations and public buildings on high ground, according to State Trooper Thomas Mungeer in Liberty.

Floods have caused severe structural damage to many buildings in the county, Trooper Mungeer said, including the collapsed house in Livingston Manor. The towns of Roscoe, Marrowsburg and Callicoon were also badly affected, he said.

Just outside Washington in Rockville, Md., 2,200 people were evacuated from areas around Lake Needwood as waters there rose to nearly 25 feet above normal levels, emergency management officials said. Heavy rains from Saturday to Tuesday have weakened the lake''s earthen dam.

In Frederick County in western Maryland, three teenagers were rescued from a stalled car late Tuesday, only to die when floodwaters carried them from the bed of a pickup truck, emergency management officials said.

Edward J. McDonough, a spokesman for the Maryland Emergency Management Agency, urged motorists to exercise caution everywhere in the region.

''We tell people, "Turn around, don''t drown," '' Mr. McDonough said. ''If you see rainwater on the road, don''t cross it, because you don''t know how deep it is or how fast it''s moving.''

Pennsylvania officials said that a motorist was killed today near Gettysburg when she lost control of her car and hit a truck, and an elderly man died after his car washed over a bridge near Equinunk on the Delaware River, state police said.

In Luzerne County, Pa., two people drowned in floodwaters — a 15-year-old boy and his mother''s boyfriend, who was trying to rescue him.

The mandatory evacuation notice issued by Luzerne County came after officials said the Susquehanna River was expected to crest between 36 and 38 feet above normal levels early on Thursday.

Searches continued for an 8-year-old girl who was swept away in raging waters in Alleghany County in southwest Virginia, and for two teenagers who disappeared near a swollen creek in Keymar, Md., state police said.

Governor Rendell of Pennsylvania said communities in his state needed help to cope. ''The serious impact of this storm on the immediate and long-term economy of this region and the state represents a major hardship, requiring a comprehensive federal, state and local partnership for effective recovery,'' he said.

In Virginia, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said that heavy rains had caused widespread mudslides in his state and that more than 225 roads in the state were impassable because of flooding.

Hundreds of roads in other states were also closed or threatened by rising waters, authorities said. A stretch of the New York Thruway was closed near Utica, and Amtrak rail service was disrupted south of Washington and in upstate New York.

Record rainfall in and around the Washington D.C. area during the last few days prompted evacuations of homes and businesses, knocked out power to tens of thousands and led government office buildings to close down.

Popular tourist attractions in the capital, including the Museum of Natural History and Museum of American History, and in other parts of the region, including the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., were shut today."

 

[Logan Sapphire]

We didn''t lose power or anything in our condo, but the commute in on the Metro has been bad at night. I work at the Justice Dept., and the main building is closed for at least the week. Sadly for me, I don''t work at headquarters so it''s work as usual. Except, all our phone systems are messed up, and we don''t have voicemail, which makes the grantees upset.

 

[galeteia]

I saw the flooding on the news. The images of buildings just disintegrating was pretty scary... those poor people. At least they had warning this time, and most evacuated. They are in my thoughts.

 

[Kaleigh]

Date: 6/28/2006 3:32:19 PM
Author: BeaudryBabe
I''m in New Hope, PA, yes, the little artisan town that is always on the news when it floods. We are not flooded as we are two blocks, uphill, from the river, but alot of our neighbors are in for some serious flooding overnight. The river is expected to crest at 3:00am, 34 feet, yikes!

Our township has declared and emergency and made evacuations mandatory. Here we go again...

Thinking of you BB. Hope all is well with you. The pics on TV are pretty scary.

 

[Gypsy]

BB... thinking of you as well.

I''m on the shore in NJ... it''s been a rainy summer but fortunately the shore the weather is always milder than it is inland (except during hurricanes). Have friends in the Philly area and we are worried about them. Stay safe BB!

 

[BeaudryBabe]

Thanks Kaleigh and Gypsy...

we are fine, high and dry actually. but our poor neighbors and friends, it''s a real mess. third time in 22 months.

did you notice the condos on the river in new hope that they keep showing on the news? we owned/lived there for two years and never had a problem.

really really sad.

thanks again for the good vibes!

 

[Kaleigh]

OMG yes I did. My friend''s partner owns a Mexican restaurant there and I haven''t been able to get a hold of him to see if it''s ok. Did you see Manayunk?? It''s a mess as well but not as bad as where you are. Glad you are safe and my prayers go out to your neighbors. So sad.

 

[Madam Bijoux]

I didn''t get flooded, but one of my trees broke in half. It''s being removed today.

Just when I was ready to treat myself to my next bauble.

 

[BeaudryBabe]

Yes, Kaleigh, I did see Manayunk, what a mess....poor people, this is horrible.

Here''s hoping your friends restaurant is ok, most of downtown New Hope got it badly.