Mandatory evacuation for all areas affected by Agnes flood; river expected to reach 40.7 feet

Citizens Voice (Wilkes Barre PA) ^ | 9/8/11 | BOB KALINOWSKI

[airborne]

I'm stranded by flooded roads here in the hills of northern Lebanon County.

I lost 3 trees to the fast moving creek water in my back yard.

This, after losing electricity for 5 days from Irene.

[Palladin]

That’s awful! Stay high and stay safe, and if you can’t—evacuate!

This flood is worse than Agnes!

[linn37]

The creek runs thru the park. Evidently there was no time to get them out.
. All of Hershey is a flipping mess. It took me two hours to get home last night from Hershey to Fishing Creek Valley and two hours to get back into work this morning due to flooding on 322.

[linn37]

Oh and 322 is closed at the Fort Hunter exit.You will not be going into Dauphin and points beyond. You will need to go across the river on 11/15.

[tomkat]

Ok, putting the nap on hold, I had to go have a look !

Here are some pics from the Lewisburg area from about an hour ago.
Bear in mind that the Susquehanna won't crest til sometime tomorrow or Saturday, and at a significantly higher level than in these pics.

(click on these to see larger versions)

The first two were taken from the I-80 bridge over the Susquehanna, just a couple hundred yards from where the Interstate is closed to the east .. from the river to at least Bloomsburg.

Looking north at what is usually Rt.405 headed to Watsontown, but now totally submerged.
The traffic signs on the right stand about 8ft above the ground.

Next one is looking west toward the river.
The trees in the foreground just off the nose of my truck sit well back from the riverbank, and a good 8' above the water on a normal day.

This one is looking north from Market St. in Lewisburg at the old railroad bridge.
Normal river level is about 8-10ft below what you see on those piers .. well, the little bit of the piers you cansee.

The Market St. bridge crossing the river into Lewisburg from the east is closed.
This has prompted a celebratory atmosphere of folks gawping at the bazillion gallons of chocolate milk haulin' ass to the Chesapeake Bay.

[Born Conservative]

Same “party atmosphere on the bridge between Berwick and Nescopeck.

[Born Conservative]

I was a pre-teen then, and remember both vividly (born in ‘63). Yes, there is infinitely more runoff now. In addition, the communities north of Wilkes Barre are screwed, as the levee doesn’t go up that far, causing the water that would have been in WB/Kingston to instead spread out further before it gets to the levee. I’ve been seeing pics of West Pittston (where I grew up), and the waters are already as high as Agnes, with more to come.

[Palladin]

Gee, I’m thinking “Maybe Ray Gricar’s body will surface.”

[tomkat]

LOL !

I was thinking the exact thing when standing close to that RR bridge.
Could see where his MiniCooper was parked when clicking the shutter.

'no tellin' what's gonna float up outta this mess'

[gilor]

This is over...all the local “reporters” have lost that gleam in their eye. That seem nearly depressed.

[tomkat]

PennDOT link of local road closures from Daily Item (Sunbury) website:

PennDOT: Roads closed due to flooding updated at 9 p.m.

This has just been posted:

I-80 reopened in Columbia County

[FlJoePa]

I was just up there. Made it back to FL today. As I said on the other thread, I have never seen the Loyalsock so angry. Here is a picture of the collapsed Slabtown Bridge and what is left of Route 87 there:

Here is another picture of Route 87:

These pictures are from a friend of mine's facebook page. She has some others I'll post as well. Prayers to everyone along the River. Its like the Sock turned in to the Susquehanna and the Susquehanna is turning into the Mississippi.

[agrace]

WNEP has some incredible pictures - 4 slideshows. Here’s a link to the 4th - http://www.wnep.com/weather/severeweatherhome/wnep-wnepslideshowseptember-part4-20110908,0,2430508.photogallery

They’re sickening to view. The damage is horrific, billions indeed. Looking at them I found myself getting really pissed that they spent hours hyping a little wading water in NYC a couple weeks ago. Where are they now? Not even one story on FNC’s front page. This might be as bad as 72. Stay safe, all.

[agrace]

WOW.

[FlJoePa]

Someone has a scary youtube video up of Slabtown Bridge. This guy is nuts.

The Sock

[tomkat]

Route 15 in Union County and Interstate 80 now open

[tomkat]

According to WNEP TV the Susquehanna crested at 38' overnight in Wilkes Barre, and so far the levees are holding.