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  • Pittsburgh-Area Flooding Covers Locks, Soccer Fields, Point

    Heavy Rain Shuts Down Roads In Allegheny, Washington, Fayette

    POSTED: 7:13 am EDT May 5, 2009
    UPDATED: 3:25 pm EDT May 5, 2009

    Sky 4 took an aerial tour of flooding in Allegheny and Washington counties that affected traffic and family activities Monday night and Tuesday morning.

    WTAE Channel 4's Amber Nicotra reported that the water along the Mon Wharf in downtown Pittsburgh rose several feet in just an hour, and commuters who normally park their cars at the Mon Wharf had to find alternate spots Tuesday morning.

    At noon, WTAE Channel 4's Sheldon Ingram reported that the water was receding but a backhoe on the property was partially covered. The wharf will remain closed to parking on Wednesday.

    Also downtown, flood waters crept over onto the sidewalk at Point State Park.

    MON RIVER FLOODING
    MON RIVER FLOODING

    Further down the Monongahela River in Elizabeth, water rushed above the lock at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Locks and Dam 3, leaving the lock barely visible.

    In Forward Township, boat docks were submerged but no vessels broke away.

    In Monongahela, only half of the stripes on the American flag at the Monongahela Aquatorium could be seen because water rose over the banks.

    As Pigeon Creek overflowed, the rising waters shut down traffic on Park Avenue (Route 481), forcing drivers to use Interstate 70 and Route 136 instead.

    Rising waters closed the Mon Wharf parking lot to drivers on Tuesday morning.

    The creek flooding also affected soccer and baseball games at Monongahela's Armstrong Park, where water rose to the top of the soccer goals and covered the baseball diamond and bleachers and filled the dugouts.

    Heavy rains also affected Fayette County, where all four lanes of Route 201 in Fayette City were shut down by rising floodwaters that covered about 300 yards of the roadway. It had reopened by noon Tuesday.

    More problems were reported in Brownsville because of flooding. The rising water shut down Albany Road.

    For more about the river forecasts, visit the National Weather Service river prediction pages.



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