Rain shuts roads, leads to power outages
Rain pounded Butler County Sunday, closing roads and causing trees to fall which resulted in scattered power outages.
Butler Emergency Services received 116 calls as of 9:30 p.m. Sunday. Calls were made for 26 flooded roads, some of which were closed, 33 service calls, some of which were due to trees across roads, 18 calls for wires down, some resulting in power outages, and 29 calls for flooded basements.
There were also four traffic accidents Sunday afternoon, but none after 2 p.m. when weather-related calls picked up.
The constant rain that started Saturday was a combination of a cold front and the passing remnants of Tropical Storm Gordon, according to Michael Brown, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service of Pittsburgh.
Brown said earlier forecasts of 3 to 4 inches of rain were still valid.
As of 9 p.m. Sunday, the Harmony and Zelienople area saw 2.35 inches of rain, Butler 2.85 inches and Moraine State Park 2.92 inches, according to Brown.
Brown said a flood warning was issued for Butler County but was expected to end at 9 a.m. Monday.
He said the warning could be extended if needed, but forecasters were expecting the storm to peter out through Monday.
“At some point the steady rain that's going to come over (Sunday) night is going to break up and you'll see a transition to scattered showers that are going to occur throughout the day (Monday).”
Brown said the northeastern United States sees tropical storm rainfall once every few years, and on those occasions, precipitation totals peak.
“It's not that typical that a tropical system comes here, but it's not that unusual,” Brown said.
Some places, like Renfrew, saw a combination of problems Sunday.
A large tree brought a boulder along when it fell across Renfrew Road in Penn Township at about 4:50 p.m., according to township firefighters.
The tree, which ended up suspended on power lines, took out service to nearby homes, firefighters said.
West Penn Power crews arrived on the scene at 5:20 p.m.Firefighters said state Department of Transportation crews would remove the tree from the road once West Penn Power workers secure the electric lines.West Penn reported that 170 customers lost power because of the incident, but they weren't alone, according to Aaron Ruegg, company spokesman.“We've had storms and heavy rain throughout the area through most of the day today and that's the cause of a number of scattered outages throughout our service territory,” Ruegg said.As of 8:45 p.m. there were 600 customers without power in Butler County, about 200 of whom were in the Renfrew and Penn Township area.“We're continuing to have crews monitor the situation,” Ruegg said.He said the crews are preparing for an extended workday.“We expect these outages will continue to occur as the inclement weather is in place,” Ruegg said. “Our storm restoration crews will be working around the clock to continue to try to restore customers as well as assess any damages that come up during that time.”Ruegg said the company always encourages customers to stay away from downed power lines and to report outages as soon as possible to West Penn's hotline: 1-888-LIGHTSS.
In Adams Township, Assistant Fire Chief Tim Llewellyn said his team did the best they could to keep up, especially with road closures.Llewellyn said much of the flooding of basements and roads was due to blocked or absent storm drains. He said some streams overflowed.Clay Avenue, Davidson Road, Seventh Avenue, Three Degree Road at Glade Run Road and Forsythe Road were all closed by 6 p.m. due to flooding.Llewellyn said flooded roads are a safety hazard that need to be respected.“There's no guarantee of the stability of the roadway surface,” he said. “We encourage the public to turn around and don't (be) drowned.”Rob Reeb, deputy chief for Harmony Fire District, said they were lucky to have support from local road crews who handled those closures, but the calls were continuing to come in.“We're thinking we're just getting started. The water's still coming down,” Reeb said.Many of the calls to houses were minor.“Mostly just running, but not a whole lot of major activity,” he said. “We haven't had any major incidents. A little water in this basement, a little water in that basement.”Reeb said the department responds to every call for a flooded basement, but there's not much they can do for people with less than 6 inches of water.“We normally send someone to check it out and give them suggestions,” Reeb said.If there is a lot of water, the firefighters will lend a hand or lend a sump pump.“We do keep a few spare sump pumps on hand,” Reeb said. “We also have a few contractors that have sump pumps that we can borrow as needed.”Reeb said his crew was settled in and ready to weather the storm.“We've had people here already for 24 hours, and we expect to keep people in house through the end of the rain,” he said.
