Flash Flood — Erie, Pennsylvania

2017-06-18 · near Springfield Station, Erie, Pennsylvania

Event narrative

Storms moved over lakeshore Erie County starting around 230 pm. Additional storms occurred at 350 pm, 500 pm, and again at 610 pm. The heaviest rainfall occurred with the later storms with rainfall rates peaking at over 6/hr around 630 pm. This rainfall over an area that had received 2.50 of rainfall already lead to rapid flash flooding. By the end of the rain at 730 pm there was a storm total measured 5.05 at the Emergency Operations Center in Mill Creek. Other rainfall reports in the area are 4.60 in Girard, 4.00 in Lake City, and 3.65 at the Erie International Airport.

Numerous reports came in of flash flooding in the area, most notably in Mill Creek. Water rescues were performed on Ridge Street and Imperial Parkway in Lake City where water was up to the car windows. Water rescues were also conducted on State Route 98 in Fairview. In Mill Creek over 100 homes were impacted by the flooding. The foundation collapsed at the sewer pump station. Caughey Road had 8 of flowing water. W 17th Street and W 15th Street had 2' of water into the homes. W 28th Street had 2 to 8 feet of water with many flooded homes. Most of the damaged homes were near W Ridge Road.

Wider weather episode

A prefrontal trough moved over northwest Pennsylvania on the evening of the 18th. A convergence boundary over lakeshore Erie County produced multiple rounds of storms from 230 pm through 730 pm. Rainfall rates were measured around 6 inches per hour at the height of the storms.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (42.0106, -80.4034)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 700715. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.