What to do when your 22-ton boat ends up on a sidewalk? Push it back in, of course.

That’s how Paul Connelly spent his Tuesday afternoon after his boat floated over the North Shore riverfront trail just down the hill from Fred Rogers statue.

As the rain pounded Sunday night into Monday, Mr. Connelly knew things were getting bad. Unsure of whether he could make his way via the Emsworth lock to the Midway marina in Sewickley where he docks his boat, he decided to keep his boat tied tight to the pylons.

“I knew I had some pretty good ropes, and the right thing to do was to stick it out,” said Mr. Connelly, 41, of Shadyside.

Pittsburgh got record-setting rainfall over the weekend and into Monday and is now ahead of its yearly average.

“It’s the folks who don’t push their boats off while they’re bouyant who have a much bigger problem,” he said. “The bonus [was] my anchor is over the wall.”

In water that reached nearly chest high, Mr. Connelly hoisted a small Honda generator onto his shoulder and carried it to the boat. He wanted to be able to get a hot shower and power up his computer once he finished pushing.

“Eh, it’s kinda funky,” he said about wading in the brown water. “At least there’s not a current, and it’s not too cold.”

After wading solo along the flooded banks of the Allegheny River in his dark-blue trunks, Mr. Connelly pushed the 1977 cruiser away from the concrete walkway and back onto the waterway.

He woke up Wednesday morning on the cruiser before the sun rose over the city skyline.

“I was able to fire up my laptop and get the phone working,” he said. “I’m going to keep it here for a couple of days and check out the lock situation.”

Mr. Connelly purchased the boat four years ago upon his return from Hong Kong, where he lived on a different boat while completing his master’s degree.

Today, with his current one beached on the riverfront walkway near Downtown, he said he takes the opportunity to sit with his laptop and work — his field is wholesale construction supply — and enjoy the view.

“With this next storm, I’m probably going to ride it out at my proper marina,” he said.

Updated 11:11 a.m. on Sept. 12, 2018

Ashley Murray can be reached at 412-263-1750, amurray@post-gazette or on Twitter at @Ashley__Murray.

First Published: September 11, 2018, 9:00 p.m.
Updated: September 12, 2018, 3:11 p.m.