Flood in Broome County, New York

A record flood occurred at the Binghamton/Washington St. bridge river gauge in Binghamton, NY. The crest was 25.71 feet at 3:00 PM on September 8, 2011. The flood waters topped the flood protection walls and levees, causing extensive flooding throughout the downtown areas of Binghamton. This surpassed the previous record of 25.0 feet set during the June 2006 flood.

The remnants of Tropical Storm Lee moved northward from the southern Appalachians on the 6th to the middle Atlantic states on the 7th before stalling on the 8th. The moisture from Lee interacted with a frontal system to the west across the eastern Ohio Valley and eastern Great Lakes. In addition, moisture was drawn into New York and Pennsylvania from Hurricane Katia which was moving northward off the east coast in tandem with the remnants of Lee. This complicated scenario led to an extreme amount of rain for central New York and northeast Pennsylvania, most of which fell over a 48 hour period from the 6th to the 8th. Rainfall of 6 to 12 inches occurred over most of the upper Susquehanna river basin in New York and northeast Pennsylvania. The heavy rain caused massive, record breaking flooding on small streams, creeks and the Susquehanna River and its larger tributaries.

The main branch of the Susquehanna River in New York from Binghamton to Vestal, Owego and Waverly crested from 1 to 4 feet higher than the previous record crests set in June 2006. In Pennsylvania, record crests occurred along the Susquehanna River at Meshoppen and Wilkes Barre which exceeded the long-standing record crests by around 1 foot associated with Hurricane Agnes in 1972.

Damages in the upper Susquehanna River Basin in New York and Pennsylvania are close to 1 billion dollars. Unfortunately, the flooding claimed 1 life and injured 1 person in central New York and northeast Pennsylvania.