Former Charleroi woman saw devastation of storms in Dallas
Growing up in Charleroi, Marcy Sutherland was accustomed to ever-changing seasons and weather in southwestern Pennsylvania.
But that didn't prepare her for devastating weather conditions that hammered Texas over the past week.
“I don't think I've ever seen anything like it,” said Sutherland, a Charleroi Area High School graduate who lives in downtown Dallas. “Flooding was very severe in some areas, and travel was impacted to the point where commuters faced trips of three hours over distances of only a few miles.”
Sutherland is the daughter of Al and Marcella Sutherland, former Charleroi and Dallas area residents now living in Clayton, N.C.
Marcy Sutherland is among a number of former Valley residents who live in Texas and experienced heavy rain and flooding in the Lone Star State.
The Associated Press reported Sunday that at least 31 people died in the storms that hit Texas and Oklahoma over the Memorial Day weekend. Twenty-six deaths were in Texas, and 11 people remain missing.
“I was in Broken Bow, Okla., for Memorial Day weekend,” said Sutherland, a performance analytics team member at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
“Broken Bow is about four hours northwest of Dallas. On our way home, the sky filled with ominous clouds, and within minutes, the eerie contrast of the white horizon under the black, funnel-shaped clouds, along with the all-too-familiar sound of tornado sirens, forced us to pull over and run into a fast food restaurant for shelter.”
Sutherland later learned she was a mile from the a site where a tornado touched down.
Dallas-Fort Worth hit
On Thursday, the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex received 7 inches of rain.
“The next morning, my office was like a ghost town,” Sutherland said. “I live ... about two miles from the medical center where I work. My employees were all gridlocked on highways because the majority of the ramps on the city's roads were flooded.
“Most of them usually commute about 30 minutes to come to work. On Friday, however, it took them at least three hours to get to the medical center.”
Sutherland photographed some flood scenes, including the Trinity River.
“We typically called it the Trinity Trickle because it is more like a creek,” Sutherland said. “Now, in the aftermath of the flooding, it reminds me of our mighty Monongahela River back home.”
Not all of the flooding was caused by waterways that overflowed their banks.
“There is no water source around Oak Cliff,” she said of an area west of Dallas. “So the flooding of the streets was the result of sewers in the area backing up.”
Water usually scarce
Sutherland sees one positive aspect of the deluge.
“We have had a severe drought in this area in recent years,” she said. “Our lakes were very low, and water conservation ordinances were in full effect.
“Lake Lewisville, which is about five miles from where my parents used to live (in Frisco, Texas), has its highest water level since 1981.”
On Saturday, Sutherland traveled to White Rock Lake in East Dallas.
“I proudly wore my Pittsburgh Pirates cap and a Roberto Clemente T-shirt,” she said. “There were so many people who came up to me, high-fived me and said how much they miss western Pennsylvania.
“I'm starting to wonder if there aren't more native western Pennsylvania folks in Dallas than actual Dallas natives.”
California, Pa., native Donnie Pordash lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex (metropolitan area). He is assistant vice president of customer relations for the Texas Rangers baseball franchise in Arlington.
“We are pretty much OK in the Metroplex, except for swollen lakes and creeks and flooded roads,” said Pordash, a California Area High School graduate.
“The Six Flags amusement park was flooded but had to close for only one day,” he said, adding the Rangers did not have to cancel games.
Rita (Paglia) Turner, a California, Pa., native, said the thunderstorms were “quite an experience” for her and others at their independent living complex near Frisco.
“Construction has begun here on a new facility for assisted living and memory care services,” said Turner, a retired educator. “There is a construction fence that separates the completed section where I live and the new one. It rained so hard and fast last Saturday night into Sunday morning that it caused part of the temporary fence to buckle and collapse.”
She said a bulldozer was used to clear mud and gravel and mud.
“It was such a mess,” said Turner, adding that when she took her dog, Maggie, outside Saturday morning, “there was between 3 and 6 inches of water climbing up the tires of automobiles in the parking lot.”
Turner welcomed the rain.“We have had so many summer droughts that we couldn't even water our lawns,” she said. “I have a patio full of plants and flowers, and all of this water has made them grow and bloom so beautifully. Many people were grateful to see the much-needed rain.” She said few in her community were “overly anxious” about the weather. “We are more concerned about the people in Houston; they were hit much worse than us,” Turner said.
Ron Paglia is a freelance writer for Trib Total Media.
