Dubois, nearby towns flooding due to heavy rains
DUBOIS – Heavy rains and powerful winds brought flash flooding, road closures, downed trees and tornado watches across much of Pennsylvania as a wild thunderstorm traveled eastward Thursday.
Among the hardest hit were DuBois and other parts of west-central Pennsylvania, after several inches of rain Thursday afternoon followed two days of storms. Officials warned of possible tornadoes in south-central Pennsylvania and funnel clouds were spotted in at least two counties in central Pennsylvania.
Jefferson and Clearfield counties each declared disaster emergencies. The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency said all roads into DuBois in Clearfield County, about 100 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, were closed due to the high waters.
As of 8:30 p.m., PPL Electric Utilities reported about 2,400 customers without power, First Energy reported about 2,200 outages and PECO estimated about 1,400 customers were in the dark.
People from 20 to 30 homes in Clearfield County needed rescue because of first-floor flooding, emergency officials said. Some areas received at least six inches of rain from the storm, said Elyse Colbert, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in State College.
“Just a mess. An utter, complete mess,” said Edward Tate, owner of Luigi’s Ristorante in downtown DuBois. He called it the worst flooding he had seen in his 15 years in the area.
The restaurant was unaffected and remained open because it was on higher ground, though Tate said other businesses nearby may had have up to 5 feet of water. He rushed home to help a neighbor quickly clean up after flooding damaged a newly-renovated basement.
One shelter in DuBois had about 20 people, and the American Red Cross set up two other shelters in the area, executive director Jason Bange said.
“This is pretty good sized-flooding in the area. A lot of people are affected,” Bange said.
Lamar Puyda watched from his porch in DuBois as some of his neighbors received help from emergency responders.
“Scary, because they’ve never had to be rescued before,” Puyda told WJAC-TV from his porch. “I’ve never seen it this bad.”
Sandy Lick Creek and the Tannery Dam overflowed, closing some roads in the area. WJAC showed video of at least one person being rescued by boat.