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Don Taney points to the trees which are usually on the bank of the river in Plymouth Township but became surrounded by water as the Susquehanna overflowed its banks.
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SUNDAY, MARCH 13, 2011 PAGE 11A
Joan Willis lives between the river and creek in Shickshinny and keeps an eye on it. She said ‘Thankfully it was just a close call.’
FLOOD Continued from Page 3A
residents started moving out in an orderly fashion and were prepared for how bad this could have been,” Moore said. “Just be really thankful, because this could have been a whole lot worse for us.” Moore said the borough opened an emergency management station and shelter with the American Red Cross inside the borough fire hall. Residents needing help cleaning up and moving back to their properties can seek help there. She also said some residents in the borough and in neighboring Mocanaqua lost power Saturday morning. “We were very lucky on this one,” said Lori Trapane, who lives on Garden Drive in Hunlock Township, next to the Garden Drive-In. “If it would have come up to where they said it would come up, we would have had water in our basement, but thank God it crested where it did.” Trapane said she had some water seep into her basement, but nothing like when the river flooded her home in 2006, and water reached the last step of her basement stairs. She said she prepared for the flood, moving furniture out and vehicles to higher ground in front of the property. She also turned off water and electrical connections to the home. Trapane, who moved into her home shortly before the 2006 flood, said she is willing to trade the occasional basement cleanup for the serenity of living on the river’s normally tranquil banks. “The property is beautiful,” she said. “It’s amazing down here; it’s just that it floods every once and a while. Living next to the river you have to expect that you might get flooded.” Don Taney said he had just finished preparing for a flood at his home in Manville, N.J. before he came to help his mother-in-law move items from the basement of her home in Plymouth Township. The river engulfed most of the home’s yard, covering about four feet of a 6-and-½-foot tall clothesline and sinking one of his neighbor’s boats, which stuck bowdown in the mud with its stern in the air. Still, Taney said it could have been a lot worse. He pointed out high water marks in the home’s garage, noting the water’s level in June 2006, when the river crested at 34.7 feet, and in 1996, when it reached 34.82 feet. “We know from year after year where we are,” Taney said, adding that his mother-in-law’s parents built the home on the river bank.
AIMEE DILGER PHOTOS/THE TIMES LEADER
The water in the creek in West Nanticoke touches the bridge over it on U.S. Route 11. Part of Route 11 was closed because of flooding.
A mailbox sits next to a street covered in water in Hunlock Township. Some streets throughout the area were closed because of flooding.
Route 11 in West Nanticoke was closed because of flooding. The water began falling Saturday once the crest was reached.
The corner of Spruce and Canal streets in Shickshinny is flooded by the Susquehanna river.
Ryan, Ryan and Carson Miner came to check on the flooding in Shickshinny, near the playground. He Shickshinny area is not protected by levees.
Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority Executive Director Jim Brozena said he was not aware of significant flooding in the Plainsville Flats section of Plains Township or other low-lying areas. “For the most part, we didn’t
have any problems,” Brozena said. Brozena said emergency crews would continue to monitor the river and streams around the county as a precautionary measure, probably through tomorrow, by which point the river is
expected to have receded significantly. “Considering where we were a few days ago, with numbers in the 30s, to have almost no one affected by this is almost the perfect way that it could have come Lori Trapane, with daughter Alexis Kennedy, points out where the out,” Brozena said. water reached.