Battling the weather
A week from today will mark the 10th anniversary when remnants of Hurricane Ivan dropped some serious rain totals in Washington and Greene counties.
I remember it well, or so I thought. I was hosting poker and I had to cancel because I could not out get out of Waynesburg. But, I looked at the calendar and realized that wasn’t right because Sept. 17, 2014, was a Friday and my poker group met Wednesday.
Then, while reading news accounts of Ivan’s visit to the area, I noticed comparative references being made to the flooding that occurred in Greene County on Nov. 19, 2003, which just happened to be a Wednesday. Wrong month, wrong year but same results – much of Waynesburg proper was under water and getting in and out was nearly impossible. This November storm brought an estimated 3 ½ inches of rain to many parts of the county, while Ivan distributed about 5 ½ inches.
Nonetheless, chatter on the police scanner made it quite clear I wasn’t going anywhere, at least for a while. I called my poker buddies and told them I was stranded in Waynesburg and that poker had to be canceled. I was hopeful I would make it home to Washington later that evening and assured everyone, assuming they were still available, that poker would be Thursday night.
Yet, as the rain continued to fall, albeit not quite as hard, I began to have second thoughts of being able to flee the rising tides of Ten Mile Creek that suddenly became Ten Mile River.
But I had to try. Colleagues in our Greene County newsroom suggested the best way would be going east toward Morrisville, even though police said the bridge was under water.
I had also heard that Ruff Creek area was flooded, which eliminated Route 19 as my most northerly escape route. Roads in West Waynesburg were also flooded, which meant I could not get to Route 18 and take the northwest route through Nineveh and eventually to Washington County. So, out Greene Street I went toward Veterans Bridge.
There was little if any traffic and I didn’t know if that was good or bad. When I made it to the underpass and bridge, I saw flashing police lights. That wasn’t good, but I went forward anyway. I saw traffic coming from the other direction, so I knew the bridge was passable, maybe.
A pickup truck was in front of me and plowed through water that covered the truck’s tires. I thought the police officer would be stopping traffic, but he wasn’t to be seen, just his car. The pickup driver made it over the bridge with me following close behind in his wake.
What do they say about driving through water-covered roads? It was the last thing I was thinking about and shame on me for that.
But I made it through and it was off to the interstate and home.
I want to emphasize my travails that night were nothing compared to the countless homeowners and businesses whose houses and establishments were flooded.
And subsequently, I learned the Federal Emergency Management Agency decided that flood damage sustained in Greene County was not severe enough to warrant federal assistance, despite pleas and appeals from county officials.
But when Ivan hit 10 months later, the damage was severe enough that federal disaster assistance was forthcoming.
So, I guess an additional 2 inches of rain does make a difference, quite a difference, at least to the federal government.
Jon Stevens is the Greene County bureau chief. He can be reached at jstevens@observer-reporter.com.