Bill Stewart worked most of the day Wednesday to clear mud from the garage at his McDonald home on the Washington-Allegheny County line.
“This will be my bedroom again [Wednesday night] so I have to clean it up,” Mr. Stewart said, taking a break from work created when water rushing down Reissing Road carried tons of mud from the construction site of the Southern Beltway onto Route 980 below.
Mr. Stewart was among a half dozen homeowners and businesses that were flooded after a heavier-than-normal rain about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday caused water to break through control systems at the construction site. Water and mud in his basement ruined Mr. Stewart’s utilities and furnace, so he’s sleeping in his pickup truck in the garage until repairs can be made.
Carl DeFebo Jr., spokesman for the state Turnpike Commission that is building the toll road, said crews spent Tuesday night and Wednesday restoring erosion and sedimentation controls and helping property owners clean up.
“It is unfortunate to see families and business owners affected by the storm waters. We had a team of turnpike staff, employees from our construction contractor and disaster recovery folks on site late last night to assist neighbors and to begin the recovery process,” Mr. Defebo said.
“We want to reassure neighbors that, if the PA Turnpike is responsible for damage, we will work to address and resolve it.”
Mr. DeFebo stressed that erosion controls were installed correctly by contractor Joseph B. Fay Co. and were approved by the Washington County Conservation District during an inspection on June 26. The state designs the controls to handle a two-year rainfall, he said, but “it seems apparent that what we are dealing with here is more significant than that.”
“More rain fell than the system was able to handle,” Mr. DeFebo said.
The National Weather Service said its monitors showed about ¾ to 1 inch of rain fell in that area in about a half hour Tuesday. The state Department of Environmental Resources subcontracts some of its work to the conservation district and said Wednesday it has asked the conservation district to review the construction site again.
Residents around the project say Tuesday’s incident is just the latest and worst in a series of floods that began this spring when Fay began clearing a path for the 3.2-mile section of the highway between the Panhandle Trail and Cecil Reissing Road in Cecil. That includes clearing the hillside above Reissing Road and Route 980 in McDonald to fill in old mines and install caissons that will support abutments for a bridge that will carry the toll road across Route 980.
Mr. Stewart’s house is directly across from Reissing, which is being turned into a cul de sac as part of the highway project. His family has lived there 80 years and has never had any flooding until the last few months, so he couldn’t buy flood insurance.
“Never in my life did I see it as bad as this,” he said, noting water on Route 980 was at least a foot deep. “Maybe this wasn’t a flood plain eight weeks ago, but it is now. This is not the peaceful little house in the valley any more.”
While cleanup crews worked Wednesday inside the house of Sueli and Daniel Armstrong on Reissing to clean up kitchen and bedroom flood damage, the contractor cut a foot-deep trench at the rear of their property and installed sand bags in an attempt to keep water away. They sold a small part of their property so crews can relocate the remaining part of Reissing, but they never had flooding in 30 years there and aren’t happy with the damage that also ruined part of their perennial garden.
“We begged them for a month to do this,” Mrs. Armstrong said as she watched the workmen dig the trench. “Everything we ask for for our security, they just say, ‘we’ll have to see’ and nothing ever happens.”
A quarter mile away in the McDonald business district, water inundated the parking lots at the month-old NAPA Auto Parts store and McDonald Auto Service, where owner Gary Andreis Jr. said he’s had to close a half dozen times this year after never flooding in the previous 10 years.
“It’s out of control,” Mr. Andreis said. “The whole town is covered in mud and all [the turnpike says] is ‘It’s not our mud.’ We’re going to get signs with the motto ‘It’s not our mud.’”
McDonald Council President Patrick Powell said he’s asked state Rep. Jason Ortitay to intervene on the borough’s behalf.
“There’s been a 10-fold increase in the amount of water we’re getting,” Mr. Powell said. “You have to question whether [the contractor] has control.”
Back on Reissing, resident Terry Tackett is an excavator himself and said he predicted problems in April. He watched the rushing water lift part of his driveway Tuesday.
“It was coming so fast, it was just rushing right past the house and out the driveway,” he said. “I’m getting fed up with this [stuff]. I’m already dreading [the next big rainfall]. I’ve got my kayak out.”
“Ed Blazina: eblazina@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1470.
First Published: July 13, 2017, 1:45 a.m.
