Flood — Warren, Pennsylvania

2004-09-17 to 2004-09-19 · Warren, Pennsylvania

Event narrative

The remnants of Hurricane Ivan moved north along the Appalachians during Friday, September 17th, and interacted with an approaching cold front, leading to a large swath of excessive rainfall across central Pennsylvania as the system weakened to a tropical depression. The rain began during Friday morning, and then became very heavy from Friday afternoon into Friday evening. Rainfall amounts of 3 to 6 inches were common, with some localized amounts exceeding 8 inches within a 12 hour period. The heavy rainfall finally tapered off from west to east across central Pennsylvania late Friday night.As a result of this excessive rainfall, and antecedent heavy rainfall from the remnants of Hurricane Frances one week earlier, widespread flooding occurred throughout central Pennsylvania from Friday evening through early Monday, September 20th. Many smaller creeks and streams overflowed their banks by Friday evening, while many larger tributaries of the Susquehanna River experienced moderate to major flooding from Saturday into Sunday. In fact, flood levels at many locations reached into the top 5 of all flood events, with many river forecast points cresting above levels reached in the January 1996 flood. Overall, 32 of 47 river forecast points exceeded flood stage in central Pennsylvania, with 2 points setting all-time record high water marks, as Bald Eagle Creek at Beech Creek Station reached 15.96 feet, and the Frankstown Branch of the Juniata River reached 19.46 feet. The widespread flooding closed hundreds of roads and bridges across central Pennsylvania, causing a significant adverse impact on commerce and transportation for several days. In particular, Route 322 through the "narrows" section of Juniata and Mifflin Counties was closed, in addition to numerous smaller roadways. The high water also caused the weakening of several flood control structures in Cambria, Huntingdon, and Montour Counties, leading to evacuations. In addition, two deaths were attributed to the flooding. One death occurred in Greenfield Township in Blair County, where a 2.5 year old boy was swept away from waters of Popular Run Creek, as the family was cleaning up storm damage and the child wandered off to the creek and was swept away. The death occurred between 12:30 PM and 1:00 PM EST on Saturday September 18th. The second death occurred in Mifflin County to a 59 year old male, who was found within receding waters. Preliminary monetary estimates of flood damage from the remnants of Ivan across the state were over 260 million dollars.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5423130. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.