I’ve been getting e-mails from a friend in southern PA, and she’s saying that the weather today is worse than it was during Irene, and it’s not going to let up until at least the weekend.
There’s a lot of flooding and lots of roads are out. The Susquehanna is supposed to experience the worst flooding it’s had in many years.
My friend tried to leave work but her SUV flooded just a few blocks away. She’s spending the night at work.
How are you getting along?
Not in central PA but grew up there along the west branch Susquehanna River. Right now my Facebook feed is exploding with friends’ stories of roads, bridges, schools, factories, and just about everything else being closed. I’m a bit concerned about my dad getting home from work–the interstate through York, PA is closed down due to flooding.
If my friend could talk to your dad, she’d advise him to stay put.
I grew up in Central PA, about a mile from the Susquehanna. A number of my Facebook friends are saying it is getting pretty bad.
I should watch the news more.
I live right outside Philly, and while it rained pretty much non-stop yesterday, it didn’t seem all that bad. Sun was out for a while earlier, and I’m about to bike to work.
The thing is, in many ways this seems far worse than Irene. But did it get any press? Were there any admonitions to stay at home with batteries and bottled water? I don’t think there were.
AFAIK, I didn’t think there were any warnings. The ground is just saturated and can’t hold any more water. Here is the link to the Harrisburg NBC Affiliate, for breaking news.
From friends on Facebook, I have heard that a number of schools let out early and low lying areas are being evacuated. Small creeks are in danger of flooding. Basements are being cleared out in anticipation of flooding.
Wow, that is some scary stuff.
I’m at work. I intentionally drove the 4WD truck into work today, and I plan on taking the back roads home to avoid the traffic. The truck can handle deep water to some degree, but that won’t help if there are 400 cars all stopped on the main road in front of me. I’ve got a bit more clearance than the typical SUV these days, but if the flooding is too bad I guess I could get into trouble.
Irene took out the only tree close to my house and I’m near the top of a small hill so I don’t have to worry about flooding, though I might get some leaking into my basement. So, I’m not worried about the house much, but I am a bit concerned about the drive home tonight.
I live about halfway between York and Gettysburg and work in MD.
A friend of mine is livetweeting from York County. Things are really, really bad, lots of roads have just enough water on them to not be safely passable, and her half hour commute took more than three hours.
Be safe out there, everyone.
My friend managed to car pool it to her parents’ house. Now they’re driving her home. I hope they make it!
This picture was taken about two miles from my house in Hunt Valley, just north of Baltimore, this afternoon. Luckily I live at the top of a hill- but it still took me 45 minutes to drive what is normally a ten-minute commute.
And we’ve got more rain on the way.
Man, in two weeks- an earthquake, a hurricane, and now flooding. It’s getting biblical around here.
I had to work outside in it today. Capitol Heights, MD. I’m from PA though. The wife said it was bad.
I sat inside for literally 4 hours waiting for the rain to slow down enough to get anything done. It’s turning a 10 day project into a 12, maybe 14 day one. I’m not happy…
I was thinking the same thing. We’re not getting your floods, but we had a lot of tornados back in June. And winter wasn’t very kind to either of us.
2011 will go down in history as the year of freaky weather.
A 45 minute drive took me two hours today. 83 S was a parking lot, then the road to my house was closed due to flooding. I was able to go around and eventually made it home, but I was starting to wonder how I’d get here.
But my house is on a hill, so I should be OK now that I’m here.
There were reports of schools closing early due to fear of flooding and water damage, and roads being closed. Fortunately, we don’t live near the Susquehanna or any of the major tributaries, so I don’t think we’re in for any serious flooding from that, but the storm drains aren’t meant to handle so much water, so the streets will be a mess, and since they drain into the Letort Run, that’ll be overflowing. FTR, I live in Cumberland County.
I used to live in Harrisburg. Went to a restaurant once that was in a neighborhood very close to the river. There was a brass plaque on the wall, about waist high, to mark the level of a bad flood in the early '90s (I think). I wonder if this will top that.
Best wishes to all the Dopers who are slogging through this.
Dad being Dad, he went home anyway…to 15 inches of water in his basement. It’s a finished basement and I think a lot of stuff got destroyed. 
I was riding on the Kelly Drive bike path this morning and when I saw that the water level of the Schuylkyl was into some of the “Nation is Formed” plaza I turned around and used the West River Drive path instead -which had some water and points but nowhere near as bad as Kelly Drive.
Kelly was still flooded in the afternoon.
My street is flooding pretty badly at the moment. Thunderstorm with sheets of rain.
