Flood Watch Looms Over Pittsburgh Region
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – The warm-up in weather may have you excited, but it could also bring some problems.
The increase in temperatures and melting of snow and ice could mean flooding in many areas.
The National Weather Service has issued a Flood Watch for Allegheny County from 6 p.m. Friday until Saturday evening.
The watch also affects most of Western Pennsylvania, as well as parts of Ohio, Maryland and West Virginia.
Latest Forecast:
The Mon Wharf is still partially caked in mud and crews are opting to wait for the clean up until after this next wave of rising water.
The National Weather Service puts the bulk of the coming rain over the Mon Valley, but not torrential amounts.
"At this point, things aren't looking like we're going to reach flood stage anywhere along the Mon, and The Point in Pittsburgh is only going to go to 21.5. We'll at least avoid affecting the 10th Street Bypass," said Lee Hendricks, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh.
That said, it may be Tuesday before the Mon Wharf is clear of water again.
The Allegheny River Valley is a different story. Boulders of ice are backed up along the river banks from the Kiski, a bit south.
"There was an ice jam that was by the Freeport Bridge on the Allegheny River caused by ice coming out of the Kiski River that broke loose and it actually took a lot of the ice downstream with it over the past 24 to 36 hours," said Hendricks.
But just above Lock 5 at Freeport, the river is still glazed in ice; and a bit further north, it's not just a glaze.
"When you get up to Mosgrove and Rimer in the upper reaches of the Allegheny River, there is ice up there 24 to 72 inches thick," Hendricks says.
Enough rain with the warmer temperatures and that ice could break up and start tumbling downstream and become a real flooding threat.
"It doesn't look like an imminent break up at this point in time," Hendricks said. "The rainfall and the runoff we're expecting just isn't sufficient to overcome that ice at this point."
And next week's weather appears favorable to avoid ice jam flooding as well.
"This scenario looks like we'll be able to avoid it," Hendricks added.
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