Luzerne County officials are warning of the potential for flash flooding Friday night into Saturday morning
Luzerne County officials are warning of the potential for flash flooding Friday night into Saturday morning due to Tropical Storm Debby, county Emergency Management Agency Deputy Director David Elmore said Wednesday.
The National Weather Service’s hazardous weather outlook for multiple counties, including Luzerne, said there is an increasing potential for heavy rainfall and areas of flooding Friday and Friday night as tropical moisture associated with the remnants of Tropical Storm Debby is drawn northward into the area.
Elmore said the severity hinges on the path of the storm, and the county is in constant communication with the National Weather Service to monitor developments.
He advises residents and motorists to be alert during this time period.
“It’s safe to say that if an area has had flash flooding in the past, it should be expected,” Elmore said.
His agency has alerted EMA coordinators in the county’s 76 municipalities to prepare and activate their emergency prevention and response plans.
Once the storm has passed, the focus will be on what impact rainfall throughout the Susquehanna River watershed has on the river level, Elmore said.
“Right now the National Weather Service is predicting a (river) rise, but it might not mean we will have minor river flooding,” Elmore said, reiterating the effect will largely depend on the storm’s path.
The Susquehanna River is currently approximately 4 feet and projected to crest at around 19 feet on Sunday, said county Flood Protection Authority Executive Director Christopher Belleman, who oversees the Wyoming Valley Levee system along the river.
“At this point it does not look like the levee will be loaded,” Belleman said.
Based on the current modeling, he anticipates the activation of levee pump stations and closure of sluice gates. He does not expect to install closure structures on the River Common in Wilkes-Barre or at a pedestrian opening in the flood wall along Riverside Drive in South Wilkes-Barre.
“That should be the extent of it,” Belleman said of the pump stations and sluice gates. “We will continue to monitor because we’re still a few days away from Debby moving in.”
The levee’s 13 levee pump stations have deep water wells to collect drainage from the land side of the levee when it can no longer naturally feed into the Susquehanna. The pumps lift the collected water up over the levee wall and dump it onto concrete aprons into the Susquehanna.
The closing of sluice gates stops rising river water from backing up into nearby properties.
For context, the river forecast would have to be above 30 feet to start preparing the Market Street Bridge flood gates, he said.
Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.