'Like Being in a Hurricane': Area Cleans Up After Powerful Storms

By Jason Togyer
The Tube City Almanac
June 13, 2017
Posted in: McKeesport and Region News

UPDATE: The Mansfield Bridge ramps from Dravosburg to McKeesport are still closed Wednesday morning.

Above: McKeesport crews work to clear mud and debris at the end of the Mansfield Bridge after a slow-moving thunderstorm dropped up to 5 inches of rain on the Mon-Yough area Tuesday afternoon. (Tube City Almanac photo)

"It was like being in a hurricane," said one witness in Port Vue, after two powerful storms Tuesday afternoon dumped 3 to 5 inches of rain on the McKeesport area, uprooting trees, causing mudslides and flooding several area roadways.

The National Weather Service in Moon Twp. issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the Mon-Yough area just before 4 p.m., warning that an approaching storm was packing 60 mph winds, large hail and torrential rains.

By 4:15 p.m., rain was falling in sheets on West Mifflin, Dravosburg, McKeesport, Liberty and Port Vue.

"We watched this hailstorm come through, and there was a pause, and then it was like it re-generated," McKeesport Mayor Mike Cherepko said, as he observed city public works crews trying to clear the flooded ramps at the southern end of the Mansfield Bridge.

"The first storm was already bad," he said. "The second one was crippling."

(Photo courtesy Bill Miller, McKeesport emergency management coordinator)

Two cars were trapped in rising water at the Mansfield Bridge and their drivers had to be rescued by emergency personnel, said Bill Miller, McKeesport emergency management coordinator.

At one point, Miller said, the water was higher than the nearly 3-foot-high concrete, or "Jersey," barriers along the sidewalk.

Neither motorist was injured, Miller said.

Cherepko said McKeesport public works crews would stay through the night in an attempt to get the bridge ramps open as soon as possible, but neither he nor public-works director Steve Kondrosky were able to estimate how long the clean up would take.

(Tube City Almanac photo)

Though dump trucks and front-end loaders were working steadily at the scene on Tuesday night, water and debris continued to pour down the hillside into the street, almost as fast as workers could remove it.

"I would have told you two hours ago that we'd be done in two hours," Cherepko said. "It just keeps coming down."

McKeesport employees were supposed to have Wednesday --- Flag Day --- off, but Kondrosky said all leave was canceled due to the flooding.

Above: A driver had to be rescued from this car on Eden Park Boulevard near the Aldi supermarket after fast-moving flood waters swamped the vehicle. (Photo courtesy Bill Miller, McKeesport emergency management)

Severe flooding also was reported along Eden Park Boulevard at Palm Street, and at the corner of Eden Park and Walnut Street, where water rose as high as the loading docks of the Aldi supermarket.

One driver had to be rescued from a car near Aldi, Miller said.

Although the intersection of Eden Park and Walnut has been prone to flooding in the past, Cherepko said the depth and speed of Tuesday's flooding were both unusual. And, he said, McKeesport was seeing flooding in places where "we've never had flooding before."

A driver also was rescued from a car on Romine Avenue in Port Vue near the Uni-Mart, Port Vue fire Lt. Mike Perkoski said. The motorist was not injured, he said.

"It was two storms, one after the other," Perkoski said. "We got hit hard. It let up for a bit, and then we got hit hard again."

Port Vue volunteer firefighters answered 16 calls, beginning at 4:15, Perkoski said, mostly for flooded basements, downed trees and power lines. Several homeowners reported damage after the deluge burst their above-ground swimming pools.

Firefighters at the borough's Vigilant Hose Co. were working without electricity for most of the afternoon and evening after a widespread power outage in Port Vue and Liberty. A Duquesne Light spokesperson said lightning struck a substation in Liberty Borough, knocking out power to more than 1,000 customers until just before 10 p.m.

The heavy rain buckled the pavement on several streets in Port Vue, including Rebecca Street and Upston Avenue, a borough worker said, while part of Washington Boulevard was closed due to a mudslide.

Glenn Avenue and Liberty Way in Liberty Borough also were closed due to flooding and mudslides.

Allegheny County emergency management said a house and cars were reported under water in the 2400 block of Latrobe Avenue, but no one needed to be rescued.

A vehicle was caught in rising water on Route 837 near Grant Avenue in Duquesne, and police and firefighters were forced to close Grant Avenue as far as Library Street, the county said.

A car also was trapped in fast-rising waters on Route 48 near the Speedway gas station in White Oak and its driver had to be rescued, Allegheny County emergency management said.

Elmwood Avenue in West Mifflin was closed after a utility pole fell into the street, ripping wires from a home, while live wires also were reported down in the yard of a house in the 1900 block of Addison Street, Allegheny County emergency management said.

In Munhall, West Run Road was closed near St. John the Baptist Cathedral due to flooding, the county said, and Munhall, Homestead and West Homestead all reported many fallen trees.

Like firefighters in neighboring communities, McKeesport firefighters were on the go, beginning at just after 4 p.m, fire Chief Jeff Tomovcsik said. At one point, 50 calls for service were pending, mostly for downed power lines and flooded basements.

No serious injuries were reported in McKeesport due to the storm and no requests for emergency shelter were received, Miller said.

The National Weather Service said the deluge was caused by a stationary cold front that settled over the area Tuesday afternoon.

More than 2.6 inches of rain were recorded in a two-hour period by a weather spotter in White Oak, the weather service said, while a reader of Tube City Almanac in Port Vue reported more than 4 inches of rain in their rain gauge between 4 and 5:30 p.m.

About 1.7 inches of rain was officially recorded at Allegheny County Airport between 4 and 7 p.m., according to weather service data. In addition, hailstones in excess of 1 inch were reported in West Mifflin, the weather service said.

"Throughout the city, when you get that amount of rain in that amount of time, the infrastructure just can't handle it," Cherepko said.

A flash-flood warning remains in effect for the entire Mon-Yough area through Wednesday morning. Forecasters warned that thunderstorms remain in the forecast for Wednesday and Thursday, which could cause additional flash flooding in some areas.

Originally published June 13, 2017.

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