The rain was coming down and the river was coming up. It had been raining for four straight days with only occasional breaks. Irene had come and gone and some people were still cleaning up branches and leaves and the utilities were busy restoring power to homes with downed lines. Laundry was piling up and there was little motivation to do anything because of the gloom.
We began hearing stories of flooding north and west of here and it seemed to be worse than the usual "lot of rain" and "lowlying areas" that we frequently hear. By Wednesday, it was becoming evident that this storm was quietly wicked. People were being rescued from fast-rising creeks and streams and the West Branch of the Susquehanna was causing real problems in Mountoursville and that area.
On Thursday morning, the announcement came that areas impacted by Agnes in '72 were under orders to evacuate. That meant Forty Fort, Kingston, Plymouth. Even though these areas are protected by an upgraded levee system that held in the last two alerts. In effect, get outta town. By eight PM. So carry a few pictures upstairs (optimistic, eh? who says it won't reach the second floor?) Pack some clothes, meds, laptop and Kindle. Prepare to abide by the law. And then it gets really serious. Evac time has been advanced to 4 PM. Not willing to wait until the traffic reached fever pitch, I locked the door(s) and left. Went to West Wyoming where there was no history of flooding and hunkered down for however long it was going to take. Better not be too long because I only brought enough clothes for two days. I did, however, remember to bring the expensive foods from my freezer. Not wanting to come home to a power-outage and garbage in the fridge.
And then, after dinner, the terrible news. West Pittston was being flooded. And the crest wasn't expected in Wilkes-Barre until 2 AM Friday. Businesses were inundated to the roof. The little drive-through coffee shop at the corner by the cement bridge was washed away and laying on its side down the block. Homes were taking in water where there had never been flooding before. Some people we knew living in W. Pittston were spared, but others we knew were counting the flooding in feet. Basements, first floors, in some instances higher. Heroic efforts on the part of some volunteers prevented the next town down-river from suffering the same fate.
The television was on constantly and the scenes were heart-breaking. Many folks up-river had seen this before and were covered by flood insurance. But most of the people in W. Pittston were not covered. And why should they be? They had never seen flooding prior. So as the hours wore on and the next day brought more fears, we watched. The rumors were rampant. There was trouble with the levee in Forty Fort. There was a breach. There wasn't a breach. But of course, the media has to report it whether or not it was confirmed. Now that we're sufficiently panicked, the straight skinny is - no breach. It's a "boil" and "we"ve contained it." Next thing we know, the flooding down-river has reached new highs. Nanticoke, Shickshinny, Bloomsburg, Knoebel's. And the river has crested at 42+ feet. Levee is only supposed to be good to 41. And all of the numbers that were being reported were wrong. The supposed crest was to be 38+ feet. National Weather Service lost the gauges that were to measure the crest so they "guessed." And the levee protection was obviously incorrect, or we'd be wearing waders and shoveling muck instead of writing this blog.
Getting from one side of the river to the other is a frightful task. I canceled my cardiologist appt yesterday. Took three tries to get to the Pierce St Bridge and then found it so backed up with traffic that I called the office from a nearby parking lot and told them I wouldn't be making it.
Brenna was late for dance class, despite having left early, because there are only one or two routes that are available. School is closed for the entire week, as parents shovel out houses and children are staying with relatives out of town.
This is the fourth time in 36 years that I've been evacuated due to the possibility of flooding. I don't think I want to go through this again. I'm betting my house will sell fairly easily since the levee has proven invincible. Living on a mountain sounds like a pretty good idea.
