Worst of the storm may be over
It appears the worst of the flooding for Butler County could be over, according to emergency management service officials.
And just in the nick of time.
The Connoquenessing Creek at Zelienople as of 7:15 a.m. was already more than 4 feet over flood stage, according to the National Weather Service’s Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service in Pittsburgh.
“We’re downgrading the flooding concern,” Steve Bicehouse, Butler County’s emergency management director said about 9:15 a.m.
“The water is starting to recede and we’re not seeing any water rescues now.
“I think we skirted this. I think we got lucky.”
Shorty after 7 a.m., the weather service showed the creek’s water level at 14.25 feet. Minor flood stage is 10 feet and moderate flood stage is 14 feet.
Low-lying communities around the creek, particularly in southern Butler County, are typically prone to flooding in periods of heavy rainfalls like what happened since Sunday and into this morning due to the remnants of Tropical System Gordon.
A number of homeowners in those areas evacuated Sunday, having learned their lessons from past flooding.
Adomaitis and Mark Otto, second lieutenant with the Evans City Volunteer Fire Department, paid a kind of preemptive visit about 7 p.m. Sunday to Hartmann Road in Jackson Township.
“We stopped to talk to people about getting them out of there,” he said, “but they were already packing up.”
At the time, he noted, that creek was rising “about one foot per hour.”
Adomaitis said he was pleased to learn that many homeowners Sunday heeded the rising waters and bugged out.
“Some people,” he said, “are actually getting smarter about this.”
Team 300 between 2 p.m. Sunday and about 7 a.m. today were deployed for several rescues, including stranded motorists and residents.
Numerous roads overnight were closed. Most have reopened but as of 9:15 a.m., six were still closed: Klein Avenue and Center Street, both in Callery; Evergreen Mill Road in Jackson Township, Cherry Valley Road and Spring Valley Road, both in Clinton Township; and Renfrew Road in Penn Township.
The National Weather Service as of 7 a.m. reported the heaviest band of rain was beginning to move out of the region and precipitation was to end by Tuesday.
“The forecast is looking good,” Bicehouse said. “The radar is looking better.”
