PENNSYLVANIA, USA — The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) has been preparing for the heavy rainfall expected in our area for the last several days.
PEMA began executing the plan Tuesday night. The Commonwealth activated the Pennsylvania National Guard; members are positioned throughout South Central Pennsylvania with high clearance vehicles to assist in evacuations if needed.
The Pennsylvania Helicopter Aquatic Rescue Team has aircrafts in Johnstown and Fort Indiantown Gap ready to get if aerial rescue is needed. Swiftwater Emergency Response Teams from the northwest part of the state have been brought into South Central Pennsylvania, and Pennsylvania Task Force 1 just returned from helping with Tropical Storm Ida in the Gulf Coast, and are now being re-tasked to stage in parts of South Central Pennsylvania for potential water rescues as well.
"Don't get complacent with this," PEMA Director Randy Padfield said. "When it comes to rescues, we spend a fair amount of time training them (first responders) about the power of moving water because they have a tendency to underestimate. So, the public is going to also have the tendency to underestimate what a lot of water can do and moving water can do."
Padfield says the next 12 to 18 hours will be the most critical. He encourages people in South Central Pa. to make sure they get weather alerts directly to their phones, consider evacuating if you live in an area prone to flooding, and to avoid driving through any roadway with sitting or moving water on it.