STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — The National Weather Service in State College continues its annual Severe Weather Awareness week Thursday with a reminder of one of the most dangerous forms of severe weather--flooding. More specifically, river flooding.
River flooding is a very common occurrence in the commonwealth and it doesn't discriminate on the season.
“There’s streams and creeks in the Spring, Summer, really all four seasons that will flood across our area. It’s pretty common," Senior Service Hydrologist with the National Weather Service, Charles Ross, said.
Some of our most dangerous river floods have come after heavy snowfalls or ice jams, notably the warm temperatures and rainfall after the major winter storm of 1996 for the Harrisburg and Hershey area. The Sherman Creek in Perry County along with the Juniata and Susquehanna Rivers all flooded over their banks. Most notably, the ice jam flooding took out the Walnut Street Bridge in Harrisburg.
But even after low snow amounts and a lack of ice packs dominated our Winter season, the snow has been replaced by rain, and a lot of it--keeping our ground and rivers prime for easy flooding.
“If we get a lot of rain in a short period of time, it’s very likely we’ll see flooding across the area," Ross said.
The dangers of river flooding can be remembered as early as September 2018. Nearly a foot of rainfall fell across portions of Lancaster and York counties in under four hours with a nearly stationary storm system moving through, turning Route 30 into a parking lot and the usually dry concrete pavement road under the Hellam bridge along Route 30 in York County into a raging river.
It also carved out an entire road, leaving barely one lane standing in Hellam Township along both Accomac and River Roads.
"“To see what’s happened to this canyon that was a quiet River Road, a quiet Accomac Road with a quiet creek literally has ripped the entire canyon out," Steven Dinnocenti, whose river home is further down River Road, said. For weeks, residents had to walk a mile with groceries and more back to their homes. Two years later, while they can still drive the now one-lane Accomac road in parts, the road has yet to be fully repaired.
Diminishing hurricanes and tropical storms also are easy causes for floods and river floods in our area. Residents can think back to tropical storms Lee (2011) and Agnes (1972) and the devastation they caused in Central Pennsylvania.
Whether it be having sand bags on hand, knowing where your nearest river gauge is and how to read it, or simply being prepared to have your most important documents in an attic or on the second floor of your home, there are numerous ways you can prepare for river flooding. It's usually a phenomena in which you have a little time to prepare for ahead of time, if you stay tuned to the Weather Smart Forecast.
“The damage adds up quick. Water is devastating. Just take precautions, right now is a good time to do that," Ross said.
For more information on Severe Weather Awareness Week, including how to prepare for river flooding, you can head to the National Weather Service State College website.