Ivan proves too much for flood control projects

Millions of tax dollars and decades of work invested in flood-control projects proved no match for the remnants of Hurricane Ivan.

While those with flood-ravaged homes and lives might disagree, officials with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said the success of federal flood protection efforts in Southwest Pennsylvania should not be measured by the aftereffects of last Friday's storm alone.

"Obviously, it's not a good situation right now," said Bob Waigand, emergency manager for the Army Corps' Pittsburgh district. But, Waigand said, residents near the Chartiers, Pine and Girty's Run creeks in Carnegie and in Etna and Millvale "might want to recall ... that they haven't had this happen to them for a long period of time."

In addition to building the network of locks and dams designed to control flooding on the rivers, the Army Corps has completed 42 flood-control projects on smaller waterways in Western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, northern West Virginia, New York and Maryland.

Army Corps projects have been done in the Chartiers Valley, Etna and Millvale -- three areas among the hardest hit by last week's record rainfall and flood.

Without these prevention measures, major disasters in flood-prone locations would happen regularly instead of once in a century, Waigand said.

Here's a look at some of the projects.

Chartiers Valley

In the 1970s, the Army Corps completed a $43 million flood-protection project in the 52-mile-long Chartiers Creek, which begins about six miles south of Washington and flows west into the Ohio River three miles northwest of Pittsburgh.

This multi-phase project now owned by the Chartiers Valley District Flood Control Authority and Washington County extended in three stretches -- from flood-ravaged Carnegie to Bridgeville; Canonsburg to Houston; and Washington to Canton Township.

The state Department of Environmental Protection completed another smaller section.

Most flood-control projects involve widening, deepening and straightening channels so they can hold a larger volume of water before they can inundate adjacent flood plains. In some cases, concrete and stone retaining walls and dikes are erected along banks to stave off overflow in heavy rain.

Engineers design these measures to regulate how much water can flow through a channel. Usually these flow targets are based on historical flood records.

"You can't design a project to take into account the flood that Noah was well known for," Waigand said. "There are practical and economic limits."

It is too early to assess flow rates caused by Ivan's remnants, but they exceeded the largest floods on record in Chartiers Creek, which happened in 1912 and 1943, said Bob Reddinger, an Army Corps program manager.

The Army Corps relied upon those earlier floods to set the maximum allowable flow rates for the creek, which range from 8,500 to 20,000 cubic feet a second. The rates depend on how many tributaries feed into the main channel in a given location, Waigand said.

One cubic foot a second is about 450 gallons a minute.

A discharge of 20,000 cubic feet a second would fill Mellon Arena in about 15 minutes.

Etna and Millvale

In the 1980s, the Army Corps built smaller-scale, flood-control projects along West Little Pine Creek in Etna and Girty's Run in Millvale.

The $3.4 million project on Girty's Run was built to accommodate flow rates experienced during a major flood there in July 1950.

The flood-control measures in Etna cost about $600,000.

There, the Army Corps deepened West Little Pine Creek and built a dike on its left bank so the creek would accommodate a maximum flow of 3,300 cubic feet a second, which engineers judged to be the magnitude of a 100-year flood, Waigand said.

This term is misleading because it suggests that an uncommonly big flood can happen only every 100 years.

A 100-year flood actually is a statistical designation that means there is a 1-in-100 chance that a flood this size will happen during any given year.

500-year flood

As with the Chartiers Creek project, these prevention measures in Etna and Millvale weren't sufficient to handle the record 5.95 inches of rain that deluged the region in 24 hours on Friday.

Preliminary data suggest this rainfall triggered a 500-year flood deluge, Waigand said.

"We had two record rainfalls within a week, " Reddinger said. "(The project designers) couldn't have thought ahead for something like this." The first record rainfall, from the remnants of Hurricane Frances, dropped 3.6 inches on Sept. 8. Ivan smashed that total.

This doesn't mean the Army Corps flood control projects failed, Waigand and Reddinger said.

"You have to look at the whole history of a project to determine if it has been a success," Waigand said. "If we hadn't done this work, the limiting factor would've been the natural states of these creeks, and they would flood more frequently than they do now."

Repairing the damage

All flood-control projects are inspected every two years by the Army Corps and maintained by a local sponsor, usually a municipality or flood-control authority. After a flood, sponsors can apply for federal aid to help pay for repairs. The rehabilitation work is done by the Corps.

Conservationists say the key to preventing major flooding is proper land-use planning, not continued dredging of streams and creeks.

"Any time you dredge, you send the problem downstream," said Jeffrey Wagner, president of the Lower Chartiers Watershed Council and employee of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.

Instead, flood-prone communities should preserve vegetative buffer zones that can hold water and limit use of nonabsorbent paving materials such as concrete and asphalt, Wagner said. They also should consider natural stream design approaches to flood-control that take into account local water drainage, geology, plant life and climate, he said.

"The Army Corps' dredging approach was a solution that was good at a certain time, but it's not really a sustainable solution," Wagner said. "The Chartiers Creek watershed has lost huge amounts of its capacity to store water, which is a big part of the problem."

Roads

Portions of almost 20 PennDOT roads in Allegheny County remain closed, but contractors should be working on all of them by next week, said Andy Kost, PennDOT maintenance executive.

"This is as quickly as we can move," Kost said.

All state-owned bridges have been inspected at least once and when the water further recedes, another round of inspections will begin, Kost said. So far, only the bridge on Dorrington Road, in Collier, has structural damage, he said.

Kost said no roads have been destroyed by the flooding, but some have extreme erosion and damage, such as Noblestown Road, near Rennerdale; Wildwood Road, near the bridge in Hampton; Butler Street, near the bridge in Etna, and Oakdale Road in North Fayette.

PennDOT roads closed in Allegheny County:

Bell Acres: Little Sewickley Creek Road.

Collier: Boyds Run Road; Dorrington Road Bridge; Gregg Station Bridge; Noblestown Road, one lane at Walker's Mill Road; Noblestown Road, one lane at Nike Site Road.

Crescent: Bobtown Road.

Etna: Bridge Street from 62nd Street Bridge on-ramp to railroad track at Sharpsburg municipal line; Grant Avenue from Kittanning to Bridge streets. Southbound traffic on Route 8 will be detoured from Butler Street to the 62nd Street Bridge.

Hampton: Wildwood Road Bridge.

McKeesport: Route 148 (Walnut Street) at 12th Street.

North Fayette: Oakdale Road.

Ohio Township: Mt. Nebo Road.

Shaler: Little Pine Creek between Wetzel Road and Marzolf Road Extension.

South Fayette: Millers Run Road between Presto-Sygan Road and Wabash Avenue.

Town meeting

A town meeting to discuss the disaster recovery effort in the Carnegie/Bridgeville/Heidelberg area is scheduled for 7 p.m. today at Chartiers Valley Intermediate School, 2030 Swallow Hill Road.

Requin repairs

The U.S.S. Requin submarine, a popular attraction at the Carnegie Science Center, North Side, is closed to the public while electrical distribution boxes under the dock are repaired. The boxes, which supply power to the sub, were damaged Saturday by high water. Tom Flaherty, director of maintenance for the Science Center, said the sub should reopen next week. He said neither the sub nor any other science center property was damaged in the flood.

Schools

These schools remain closed today: Carlynton School District, until Monday; Newport Business Institute, Lower Burrell, until Monday; All Saints Catholic School.

Shaler Area School District reopens today but with a two-hour delay. Staff should report at the regular starting time. For details on revised bus routes and kindergarten start times, call (412) 492-1200.

Shaler Area showers

Parents or children in flooded areas without access to water in the Shaler Area School District may take showers at school each day. Elementary school children in need of showers will be transported back and forth to other schools. If possible, parents are asked to send towels with their children. The schools are dropoff points for donations. For details on donating or picking up donations, call the school district at (412) 492-1200.

North Hills

Two Foodland stores have teamed up with Heritage Church in Franklin Park and North Hills Community Outreach to provide food to flood victims. Shoppers can purchase prepackaged bags of groceries at the Foodland stores in Shaler or Pine Plaza in Ross and donate them to the program. The bags are then distributed to local families in need.

So far, 40 bags of groceries have been donated. For details, contact Mike Mihelic at (412) 414-8729 or Dave Minella at (412) 402-0149.

Montour Trail

Nine miles of Montour Trail are closed, from the trail's start in Groveton to mile 9.5 in Imperial. Members of Montour Trail Council are looking for immediate help from the public to rebuild the section. A cost estimate is not available, but contributions are being accepted. To donate, send a check to the Montour Trail Council, 304 Hickman St., Suite 3, Bridgeville, PA 15107. Volunteers who want to help rebuild the trail can call (412) 257-3011.

Damaged appliances

Mechanical contractors, through various unions, are providing free services to remove freon from flood-damaged appliances before they are taken to landfills. Freon contributes to the deterioration of the ozone layer that protects the earth from the sun's rays. Also, Allegheny County Health Department plumbing inspectors will work with municipal emergency coordinators in assessing the conditions of water heaters and furnaces. Residents who need these services should contact their municipal emergency coordinator.

Wanted: dump trucks

Carnegie needs at least five dump trucks to haul trash to the Imperial landfill. Anyone who can offer services is asked to call the Carnegie Municipal Building, (412) 276-1414.

Also, the Airport Area Chamber of Commerce said these products are needed in Carnegie and Oakdale: paper supplies, including paper towels and toilet paper; rubber gloves; bandages for minor cuts; diapers and baby food; chlorine bleach; dishwashing liquid; laundry detergent; and dog and cat food. Food stations need condiments such as ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise.

Chamber members will be in Oakdale today and Friday, but volunteers still are needed. For details, call Sally Haas at (412) 264-6270.

$50,000 donation

Mellon Financial Corp. Fund donated $50,000 to local organizations conducting disaster relief efforts -- $10,000 each to the American Red Cross, Salvation Army and Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, and $20,000 to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. Half of the Food Bank money will be used to help replace the food pantry destroyed in Carnegie, and half will be used to supply food to flood victims.

Free phone use

Comcast has established free emergency telephone centers for public use at the Carnegie, Etna and Heidelberg borough buildings. At each location, multiple telephones are available free-of-charge to individuals affected by the flooding and without telephone service. All three centers will remain open until telephone service is restored in these communities.

Water test advisory

Pennsylvania American Water says its customers are not required to have their tap water analyzed. One company, not affiliated with Penn American or parent company American Water, is offering a free analysis but it may be tied to a sales presentation, a water company statement said. The statement said the other company's name and marketing symbols are similar to Penn American's. Spokesman Philip Cynar said the company's water meets or exceeds federal, state and local standards. Customers with water quality concerns may call (800) 565-7292.

Separate waste, trash

The Allegheny County Emergency Operations Center and the county health department urge residents to keep regular household waste separate from flood-damaged items. That will help keep away rodents and raccoons, said Dr. Bruce Dixon, county health director. The department said residents should contact their municipalities to determine if their regular waste pickup schedules still are in effect.

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