Monongahela River crests nearly 8 feet above flood stage in Charleroi
The Second Street boat launch at Water Street remained under water Sunday in Belle Vernon.
Firefighters pump water from a basement at 103 Third St. in Belle Vernon, a low-lying area along the flooded Mon River.
A dock broke loose Saturday causing boats to become wedged together along the flooded Monongahela River at Smitty’s Marina and Grill in Speers.
California Boat Club floats down the Monongahela River near Stockdale Sunday.
Richard Arnold of Carroll Township took this drone footage of the Monongahela River in Charleroi at Lock and Dam No. 4. The video was taken about 6 p.m. Saturday.
BELLE VERNON – The rain-swelled Monongahela River rose to nearly 8 feet above flood stage early Sunday at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Locks and Dam No. 4 in Charleroi, causing moderate-to-major damages in low-lying areas, the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh said.
Many basements were flooded in nearby Belle Vernon where several roads also were closed because of high water, the borough’s fire company said on a social networking website.
“The river has crested, but the danger isn’t over just yet,” the company stated on Facebook.
The river crested at 35.9 feet in that area early Sunday, and it wasn’t expected to recede to levels below flood stage until late afternoon, the weather service said. Flooding begins to occur in Charleroi when the river rises to 28-feet deep.
Firefighters were pumping out basements Sunday afternoon in Belle Vernon at Third and Water streets, including one at a house owned by North Belle Vernon firefighter Barbara Peters.
She said the furnace in her house at 103 Third St. and other important items were relocated from its basement long ago because of the risk of flooding.
The only thing in the basement is the hot-water tank, Peters said. “We’re used to it.”
Before the water receded, she said, the area resembled a moat and the rising river came just inches from entering the first floor of her house.
Across the river in Speers, a line of docks at Smitty’s Marina and Grill came loose and jammed a number of boats against each other, saving them from being swept away in the swift currents, one of the boaters said.
“There’s some damage out there,” said the boater, who didn’t want to be identified.
Meanwhile, Rostraver Township Volunteer Fire Department in Webster said it and others dispatched rescue boats to Noble J. Dick Aquatorium in Monongahela to rescue four boaters late Saturday from a dock, parts of which were floating away. No one was injured, the fire department said.
The nearby kayak launch where ribbon-cutting ceremonies took place Thursday was still under water Sunday afternoon, Washington County Commissioner Harlan Shober said.
“The boat docks were ripped out,” Shober said. “There’s a lot of debris in Charleroi.”
The river remained under a flood warning in the Charleroi area until further notice.
Warnings were lifted Sunday morning at Corps facilities in Elizabeth, Allegheny County, and La Belle in Fayette County.
The California Boat Club barge that broke free from its moorings Saturday in Coal Center sank near the approach to the Charleroi locks, which remained closed to navigation Sunday because of the high water, a shift supervisor at the locks and dam said.
He said the sunken vessel isn’t in the navigation channel, that it would take several more hours to reopen the facility.
The water was dropping fast there, he said Sunday morning.