August 20, 1999 Flash Flooding

There were two areas of flash flooding on this day; McKean county in northwest PA... and the part of the Mid Susquehanna Valley in central PA. Several inches fell in some areas over those two locations... while other areas of Pennsylvania saw little rain at all. A Storm Total Precipitation from Doppler Radar estimates is available. Not the two areas of extreme rainfall (in a short time too!).

Doppler radar actually was underestimating rainfall in some areas. For example... where I live in extreme northern Northumberland county... a few miles north of Watsontown... I received 4.30" of rain. Radar estimates are quite a bit lower for my area.

The borough of Lewisburg, Union county, was hit by flash flooding. Numerous streets in town were impassable with as much as 4 feet of water on them!! In addition... parking lots, fields, and playgrounds were submerged in water. A college also had water damage. Several other roads in Union county were closed... including at least 3 in Mifflinburg. In Snyder county, numerous roads were also closed. Areas near the Snyder/Juniata county border were hit hardest. Roads were inundated with water... and several water rescues had to be performed by Authorities. Some buildings were damaged... and a mobile home was moved 15 feet off its foundation! Many basements had water in them... some measuring it in feet.

But northern and western McKean county in northwest Pennsylvania were hit the hardest by far... with 7-10 inches of convective rain falling in a short time around the Bradford area!! This caused a MAJOR flash flood in that area. Streams and creeks went from near dry levels to raging waters well over their banks in literally just a few hours... the fastest rises occurring in less than an hour. The result of this violent flash flood was total chaos. Roads were obviously flooded with feet of water. In fact, a couple roads were entirely washed away. They're just gone... and have to be made over again. Buildings were damaged and destroyed... and cars and trucks were thrown downstream. The local area was like a war-zone. Preliminary damage estimates reach a staggering 25 MILLION dollars!! Approximately 700 homes and 50 businesses were affected. Even worse... 95% of the flash flooding occurred OUTSIDE of the "flood plains"... and just 1% of the damage is covered by insurance!!

A complete listing of all images/text available for this event can be found here.