Rain spurs flood issues
The southern part of Butler County had weathered 1.5 to 2 inches of rain in a 24-hour period as of this morning, however forecasters say there could be a break in the rain cycle later today.
But first there will be more rain — another one-half to three-quarters of an inch — that is expected to produce flooding in the Connoquenessing Creek valley, such as Evans City, Harmony and Zelienople, said the director of the county's emergency services.
Steve Bicehouse said some flooding already has impacted areas of Callery, and Cranberry and Adams townships.
“They had a lot of flooded basements and flooded roadways,” he said.
He said most of the calls took place after 5 p.m. Monday and then again after 10 p.m., which were the times that heavy rain occurred. The roads most affected were side streets. Routes 228 and 19 experienced some flooding, but Bicehouse said the roads remained open.
He said the Butler County Communications Center received roughly 50 calls related to the heavy rain Monday.
Lee Hendricks, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh, said the rain the region got in the 24-hour period was enough to “cause problems.”
Later this morning, he said there was a potential for an additional half inch to three quarters of an inch of rain, which could lead to flash flooding. The county is under a flash flood watch until 2 p.m. today.
“Ground saturation right now is extremely high,” Hendricks said.
After that, he said heavy rains should stay away for several days, but that Tropical Storm Bill will hit Texas today, which could lead to extremely heavy rain this weekend in the county.
“There's a lot of uncertainty right now,” Hendricks said.
In Cranberry Township, director of public safety Jeff Schueler said there were reports of flooding on Greenwood Drive, McDonald Drive, Freedom Road and Pinehurst Drive. In the cases of McDonald and Freedom, he said the flooding was related to retention ponds overflowing.
