Flood — Schuylkill, Pennsylvania

2011-09-07 to 2011-09-11 · near Tamaqua, Schuylkill, Pennsylvania

Event narrative

Heavy rainfall from the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee caused extensive flooding across Schuylkill County. The county made a Declaration of Disaster Emergency, along with the municipalities of Pine Grove Borough, Hegins Township, Tower City Borough, Porter Township, Port Clinton Borough, and Pine Grove Township.

The Pine Grove area appeared to take the brunt of the flooding. In Pine Grove Borough, the Swatara Creek overflowed its banks, causing massive flooding and damage to the area. Many people had to be rescued from their homes when the waters rose to dangerous levels, or from their vehicles after attempting to drive through the raging waters. National Guard personnel from nearby Fot Indiantown Gap were called in to assist with evacuating certain areas, particularily two mobile home parks in the area. An estimated 50% of the homes were flooded in Pine Grove Borough. A rescue boat was reported to have capsized near Pine Grove during the event, and a member of the rescue team suffered hypothermia. Three bridges were reported to have washed away in Schuylkill County, two in the Pine Grove area and one in West Penn Township.

Hundreds of people were temporarily displaced by flooding in Pine Grove and Schuylkill Haven, with approximately 140 of them taking shelter at the Pine Grove High School. The Borough of Gilberton, including Mahanoy Plane and Maizeville, sustained flooding from this event as well, although residents reported that it wasn't as severe as the Flood of 2006. Minor flooding was reported in the Long Row section of Gilberton, areas in a five-block section of Railroad Street also in Gilberton, and part of Water Street in Mahanoy Plane. Additionally, Upper Mahantango Township evacuated some residents in Klingerstown along Main St and Ridge Road.

Portions of state routes 443, 895, 645, 125, 25 and 183 in Schuylkill County were closed during the event, with only SR61 remaining open in the Pottsville area. A portion of Interstate-81 in the Pine Grove area was closed when the driver of a tractor trailer and the occupants of three passenger vehicles were caught in high waters and had to be rescued.

A preliminary total of 20 buildings were destroyed in Schuylkill County, with 148 suffering major damage and 573 suffering minor damage. A total of 741 structures were impacted by flooding during the event. Damages were estimated at $4,148,317 for public facilities.

Wider weather episode

Heavy rainfall from the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee produced widespread flooding, flash flooding and river flooding mainly near and to the east of the Susquehanna Valley from September 4-10. Several locations in the Susquehanna Basin came close to records set by Hurricane Agnes (June 1972) and a few points (Bloomsburg, Hershey and Loyalsockville) set new floods of record. Flooding along Swatara Creek resulted in property damage and several deaths. Severe flooding occurred along Loyalsock Creek and many points along the main-stem of the Susquehanna River. The interaction of a stalled frontal boundary over the Mid-Atlantic region, a strong northern stream short-wave (with a persistent jet entrance region) and deep tropical moisture associated the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee resulted in multi-day, significant heavy rainfall event over Pennsylvania.

Tropical storm Lee was the twelfth named storm of the 2011 season forming over the Gulf of Mexico on September 1. A strong northern stream short-wave interacted with Lee causing the storm to re-curve to the north-northeast. By 1200 UTC September 6, having undergone extra-tropical transition, post-tropical Lee was located over northern Georgia. The surface low weakened as it moved up the Appalachian Mountain chain. However, the strong low-level flow and the above normal precipitable water produced an extensive, north-to-south oriented band of heavy rainfall.

The rainfall associated with the remnants of Lee produced the 4th largest flood of record in the Mid-Atlantic Region. The five-day storm rainfall totals for September 5 to 9 were generally in the 5-8 inch range over the mid-section of central Pennsylvania and in the 8-12 inch range in the Susquehanna Valley region. There were local amounts reported in excess of 15 inches east of the Susquehanna River. The local climate sites in Harrisburg (KMDT) and Williamsport (KIPT) reported 13.44 and 9.03 inches respectively. On September 7, 2011 both KMDT and KIPT set their all-time daily (24-hour) rainfall for the month of September at 7.71 and 6.76 inches respectively. These sites later went on to break the all-time monthly (September) and annual precipitation records, making 2011 the wettest year on record.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (40.8065, -75.9457)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 348445. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.