I heard about this on NPR today but it isn't getting a lot of press anywhere else.
quote:
Ivan Effects Felt in Pa., W.Va. and Ohio
AP Photo PAJK103
By JENNIFER C. YATES Associated Press Writer
CARNEGIE, Pa. (AP)--John Ferri rushed feverishly around his mud-soaked monument business over the weekend, cleaning off the granite gravestones with window cleaner and carrying out boxes of trash.
Next door, Mary Spice looked in disbelief at her apartment's soaked carpeting and wondered when the electricity would be turned back on.
Down the street, Brian Acheson shoveled several inches of mud from his offices.
The storm that was once Hurricane Ivan was long gone by Sunday, but it left rivers and small streams swollen beyond their banks and forced new evacuations in five states.
``This was record devastation for us because we've never had a storm that cut so completely across the state,'' Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell told CBS' ``The Early Show'' on Monday.
For this 1.7-square mile Pittsburgh suburb, the culprit was Chartiers Creek, and residents said they have lost more than just furniture and carpeting.
``It's just so sad because for my family, this is historic,'' said Kristen Barber, whose family has owned the J.H. Ferri & Co. monument business since 1926.
Northeastern Pennsylvania and far northwestern New Jersey were soaked with 5 to 8 inches of rain in less than 24 hours Saturday, and that water rushed downstream Sunday, forecasters said.
The Delaware River flooded parts of New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania, prompting thousands to flee, and the Ohio River inundated parts of towns in West Virginia and Ohio. The Susquehanna River brought misery to east-central Pennsylvania.
The Delaware crested around 23 1/2 feet in Trenton, N.J., on Sunday night, well above the flood stage of 20 feet, and the Susquehanna was nearly 8 feet above flood stage Sunday at Bloomsburg, Pa., the National Weather Service said.
In Harrisburg, the mayor's office reported more than 2,000 residents subject to evacuation, and the deluge closed streets and unmoored pleasure boats from docks. In the Wilkes-Barre area, the Susquehanna also caused extensive damage.
Conditions in the region were expected to slowly improve Monday and no more rain was expected for the next few days.
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I got deluged on our first camping night. I'll post a thread at my own site for my tales of woe, but that's the last time I trust the weather man!
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Yeah, we're not done yet in these parts. You can see from this map the predicted river levels at a lot of gages we have in the area. All the yellow ones up at the northern part of WV have already passed the major flooding, and if you click on the dots you can see just how bad it got.
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WOW, I hope all my people in WV are okay. I'll call my Dad tonight and see if they've heard from them lately.
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HC, Why did the one dam on the Ohio R.(guess it was Racine Dam) get a record flood while the areas around it didn't? Did you guys use that dam to regulate everything downstream so it didn't get as bad?
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You know, I'm not honestly sure. But the next one downstream (Point Pleasant) is at the confluence of the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers, so that may have something to do with it (more places to back up water, plus the Ohio probably widens some there). And there may be something to the holding water thing, though I would think by this point it would be open river. Also notable is that the flood of record there is relatively low when comparing it to the Major Flood stage.
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Hamtramck is surrounded by Detroit on all sides. When I was there, the missionaries in Hamtramck had their house sprayed with bullets. There were bullet holes in the front door. Very exciting - they wouldn't let the sisters live there.
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I *think* all of the assorted relatives I have there live on high enough ground. The Susquehana near Lancaster is flooding. Even if they aren't my favorite people in the world I really don't wish them ill. But they don't actually live in Lancaster, they are all out in the fields and townships around from it and I think actually closer to the Susquehana.
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I am OK! Thanks for asking! The flooding did occur more heavily both north and south of me, but I live on top of a hill, on a slab of bedrock. We were high and dry. Several people in my town had water in their basements, but no floodwaters overturning cars or anything that severe like in the Pittsburgh area or in the Edinboro area...
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My Dad checked in with my folks in WV, all clear. The house my Dad grew up in had water approach it but it is on enough of a hill that it didn't reach the house.
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