Floods damage roads, homes in Slippery Rock
SLIPPERY ROCK BOROUGH — To the untrained eye, Slippery Rock Borough’s Main Street gave no indication of the flooding it experienced Friday evening.
But a keen observer on Saturday afternoon would notice large amounts of gravel scattered across the road or a “closed road” sign leftover from the previous day when borough officials worked into the night to shut down water-covered roads.
Jeff Campbell, the borough council president, declared a state of emergency around 10 p.m. Friday after heavy rain, which had started around 6 p.m., had begun washing away roads, flooding basements and creating at least one sinkhole in the area.
The state of emergency urged people to stay indoors until the situation could be assessed and appropriate action taken, according to Borough Manager Shawn Pugh.
“The borough building flooded. We had 3 inches of water in the basement, we were trying to clean up,” Pugh said. “We had one resident — his driveway was taken out and the water was knee- to waist-high.”
Pugh, Campbell and the borough road crew assisted residents and closed flooded roads into the night, performing at least two water rescues.
“We had an 80-year-old woman on Arlington Drive, which got flooded, and her car got stuck,” Pugh said. “(Campbell) rescued her, by the time he got there, the water was to her dashboard. When the water receded we were able to drive her car back to her house.”
Another water rescue took place on Kiester Road, where a Slippery Rock University pond overflowed onto the road. Ryan Hanchosky, chief of Slippery Rock Volunteer Fire Company, said that water rescue took place around 7 p.m., when a car was caught in the water near West Lake Street.
“The ponds from Slippery Rock University overflowed due to the volume of water, and it was going into a creek nearby,” he said. “(The driver) said he thought he could make it, but the water rose to his windshield.”
Hanchosky said crews used a tower fire engine vehicle to rescue the driver, lowering the tower over the water.
Butler County Water Rescue Team 300, and Harrisville and Unionville volunteer fire companies all responded to the scene. The incident resulted in no injuries.
Slippery Rock Volunteer Fire Company and other water rescue crews brought the driver of a car to safety.
“We had five or six calls at the same time. Prospect Borough-Franklin Township Volunteer Fire Department came to assist us,” he said.
According to Pugh, there were reports of fallen trees, flooded basements and a sinkhole on Elm Street on Friday evening. Slippery Rock Community Park on Boller Drive was down to one entrance due to a hole in the road.
“We’re going to have to have an engineer look at it,” he said.
Despite the stormy night, people still visited the Slippery Rock Farmer’s Market at the parking lot on Elm Street Saturday and recalled the previous evening.
Daphne Turne of Slippery Rock Township said she was driving through the borough when the storm hit.
“It was torrential,” she said. “The drains were just bubbling up. Kiester Road was where I really saw the water was not going down the drains. It was not pretty.”
Residents also shared the damage done by the flooding by responding to a Facebook post by Mayor Jondavid Longo, who had spread the word about the state of emergency.
“We are less than a quarter-mile outside the borough,” one person commented. “Our entire finished basement flooded.”
Others offered sympathies and words of encouragement.
As of Saturday morning, the National Weather Service of Pittsburgh forecast a 60% chance of rain for Monday with the rain chances increasing into Tuesday.
Pugh said the state of emergency would be discussed and ratified at the council meeting Tuesday. He urged residents to stay safe in the coming days as damage is assessed.
“I think as long as the public uses common sense and stays safe, they should be okay,” he said.
