Washington County hit by flash floods
Residents of municipalities across southern Washington County had barely begun to recover from flood damage from a storm in early September when another intense rainstorm brought flash flood conditions to the county on Sunday morning.
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for Washington County from early Sunday morning until 4 p.m., with the most intense flooding reported around the City of Washington, Claysville, Canton and North Franklin Township, according to county Director of Public Safety Gerald Coleman.
He said that while there were reports of widespread flooding, there have been not been any casualties reported.
A handful of roads remained closed throughout Sunday, including Henderson Avenue and North Henderson Avenue due to several feet of water blocking the roadway.
Washington & Jefferson College’s Cameron Stadium was inundated with floodwater again that swamped the field and Park Avenue, which runs alongside it.
Coleman said that public safety staff are still assessing the damage from the flood that rocked the region in early September, which followed two intense storms that brought similar amounts of rainfall in early and mid-August.
According to Coleman, staff from the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency are scheduled to be in Washington on Monday morning to help with damage assessments from the previous storm, and will now help assess the damage from Sunday’s storm as well.
“We used to get this sort of storm once every few years, now it seems like it’s happening every few months,” he said.
Due to the rain, activities were canceled at several of the sites participating in the Covered Bridge Festival, which included nine historic covered bridges in Washington and Greene counties.Last week, the Washington County Tourism Promotion Agency announced that the Ebenzer and Henry bridges in Mingo Creek County Park would not be part of this year’s festival as a result of flooding that would make it impossible for vendors and visitors to come to the park.
A state of emergency was declared in Canton Township, with the Washington Estates trailer park being particularly hard hit. Some residents were evacuated earlier in the day, but were allowed to return by 2 p.m. as the waters receded.
The township’s emergency management office posted an urgent message on social media that “first responders, road crews, public works and all other agencies are out in full trying to manage all the situations that are happening.”
The post continued, “Trees are down. Roads are completely flooded. Driveways are washing out. Vehicles have been abandoned in flooded areas. People have had to be pulled from cars. Areas that don’t usually flood are flooding.”
South Strabane’s fire department reported on social media that it was working on “multiple incidents” following the rainfall Sunday morning.