Flooding tests limits of Pa. levees

Associated Press

WILKES-BARRE, Pa.

Historic flooding brought on by the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee tested the limits of northeastern Pennsylvania levees designed to protect tens of thousands of people as officials scrambled to deal with flood- waters that went higher than those caused by Hurricane Agnes nearly four decades ago.

Floodwaters began to recede Friday in Wilkes-Barre, but officials there feared for the integrity of evees after the U.S. Geological Survey bumped the estimated crest of the Susquehanna River to 42.66 feet — more than 11/2 feet higher than it was when Hurricane Agnes hit in 1972.

“We are containing a much larger flood than we had previously anticipated,” said Jim Brozena, executive director of the Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority.

After a river gauge broke, officials early Friday morning were estimating that the Susquehanna had crested at more than 38 feet. But a worker later determined the river had been much higher, although it stayed below the top of the levees.

Brozena said the levee system that protects Wilkes-Barre and other riverfront communities is under “extreme stress.”

“We are well beyond our design for this system,” he said.

In the town of Forty Fort, workers had been shoring up the earthen berm with stones and rocks since Thursday, Brozena said.