WeatherMatrix Storm Report: Hurricane Ivan Remnants Cause 30-Year Flood Sept. 18, 2004

30-Year Flood: September 18, 2004: Hurricane Ivan Remnants Cause Worst Flooding in Central PA Since 1972

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The remnants of Hurricane Ivan dropped between 2 and 8 inches of rain across Central Pennsylvania, home to WeatherMatrix HQ, Friday September 17 and overnight Saturday September 18. See a doppler-estimated precip map from AccuWeather and key.

The NWS in State College, PA, home of WeatherMatrix HQ, issued dozens of Flood Warnings, Flash Flood Warnings and Flood Statements. Residents of Centre County awoke to houses and cars underwater and local TV & radio stations not transmitting.

The Centre Daily Times put out a number of informative articles and photos; one article noted that a Disaster Emergency had been declared in Centre County and there were dozens of road closures, including I-80. A levee in the county to our south threatened to break and flood a town. The flooding was happening all over the state, in some places flooding was worse than any time since 1917!

QUOTES FROM THE PRIMARY CDT ARTICLE: "Some residents of Milesburg, Philipsburg and Coburn were rescued by boats as floodwaters surged into their homes after the remnants of Hurricane Ivan dumped 4 to 7 inches of rain on the region, pushing creeks and streams over their banks. At 2 a.m. Saturday, Centre County commissioners declared a disaster emergency as the second massive rainstorm to hit the county in a week caused flooding that closed roads throughout the region and combined with high winds to leave 1,500 homes and businesses without electricity." “Roads to Coburn are completely closed off; no one can get in or out” by vehicle, Timothy Boyde, the county’s director of administrative services, said Saturday afternoon. “Spring Mills is 2 or 3 feet under water.” The eastbound lanes of Interstate 80 between Milesburg and Bellefonte were closed by flooding early Saturday... the Juniata River was still rising late Saturday afternoon, prompting the state Department of Transportation to close U.S. Route 322 in the Lewistown Narrows at 6:45 p.m. A state of emergency was declared in Milesburg at 11 a.m. Saturday... Bald Eagle Creek experienced record flooding, with 16 feet of water reported, AccuWeather forecaster Michael Sager said. Penns Creek was 4 feet above flood stage at 11 a.m. Saturday, recording a depth of 12 feet... Talleyrand Park and Schnitzel’s Tavern were under water... “We’re at the mercy of nature at this point,” Boyde said. “We have to wait for the water to recede to see if the roads are even still there.”

I (WeatherMatrix Founder Jesse Ferrell) took the photos below between 8 and 10 a.m. at the Houserville Spring Creek USGS Gauge in State College (a couple miles from HQ), which had not seen streamflow this strong since 1996. Other photos were taken in various places as noted. The most impressive flooding photos were taken in Milesburg near the Milesburg Spring Creek USGS Gauge, which had not seen streamflow this strong since 1972!

This flood far exceeded anything that I have seen here, and as noted above, streamflow, and probably gauge heights, were higher than they had been in 32 years. One of my goals has always been to save photos from previous floods in order to compare water heights and extent of damage. Ironically, this flood could not be compared to previous floods that I have recorded here (9/9/04, 11/19/03, 3/20/03), simply because the locations where I took the photos could not be reached due to flooding! I have attempted to do a partial comparison to this flood's runner-up from last week.

The gauge's reports of streamflow and stream height at the time of the photos have been permanently archived here and are displayed below.

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