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Flood-prone Millvale cleans up from storms, prepares for more | TribLIVE.com
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Flood-prone Millvale cleans up from storms, prepares for more

Tom Davidson
Tom Davidson
ptrmillvaleflood04070618jpg
Nate Smallwood | Tribune-Review
Millvale police officers walk down streets to put up yellow tape after flooding on Thursday, July 5, 2018.
ptrmillvaleflood01070618jpg
Nate Smallwood | Tribune-Review
An emergency worker looks for storm drains along a flooded street in Millvale on Thursday, July 5, 2018.

Millvale residents worked Thursday morning to clean up damage caused by storms that began the night before and prepare for another anticipated round of heavy rain.

"It's just another day here. You got your rubber boots on cleaning debris," North Avenue resident Scott Baker said.

North Avenue suffered some of the worst flooding in hard-hit Millvale, a borough of nearly 4,000 people that sits along the Allegheny River and often floods after storms.

Several residents said Thursday morning's flooding was the worst they could remember since 2004, when the remnants of Hurricane Ivan dumped nearly 6 inches of rain on Sept. 17, just more than a week after Hurricane Francis remnants brought nearly 4 inches.

The National Weather Service in Moon said Millvale was in a corridor of northern Allegheny County communities that received 3 to 4 inches of rain between 6 p.m. Wednesday and 8:30 a.m. Thursday. The area also was hard hit by rain Monday and last week, according to meteorologist Evan Bookbinder.

Throughout Millvale, hoses snaked from basements into the street as people pumped out storm water. Residents sprayed off their sidewalks and shoveled a silty layer of mud that coated many of the sidewalks. Some people placed sandbags in strategic locations in an attempt to minimize damage from rain in the forecast.

No injuries were reported as a result of the latest flooding. Firefighters went door to door to make sure residents were OK in some of the hard-hit areas.

The storm-related flooding wasn't a surprise for North Avenue's Baker.

"When you sign your mortgage, they hand you boots," he said.

Baker said he and a neighbor built a retaining wall in their backyards in 2007 to reduce the impact of the storm-related flooding.

"This is going to be moving some debris out of the backyard and cleaning off the sidewalk," Baker said of his cleanup duties.

Others weren't as lucky or as prepared for the deluge of rain.

"My whole basement filled with mud," Michelle Bauer said. "This was like, where do you even start (to clean up)?"

She lives on the opposite side of North Avenue as Baker — closer to Evergreen Avenue.

Evergreen Avenue's Herman Olander left a vacation in Ocean City, Md., to avoid storms there and returned home in time for the ones here.

"A lot of rain, real fast, and another flood," Olander said, describing Thursday morning.

Millvale officials said they were providing cleanup kits at the borough building at 501 Lincoln Ave. Water and snacks were being provided at the Millvale Community Center at 416 Lincoln Ave., which was also serving as a cooling center.

Tom Davidson is a Tribune-Review staff writer.