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Heavy rain, flooding wallop Pittsburgh's North Hills | TribLIVE.com
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Heavy rain, flooding wallop Pittsburgh's North Hills

Jacob Tierney And Theresa Clift

Crews clean up after flash flooding in Ross

Crews and business owners in Ross clean up after flash flooding on the morning of July 5, 2018. Crews shut down Babcock Boulevard at Church Road due to flooding.

Firefighters smashed the front windshield of a Port Authority bus and pulled passengers to safety as flood waters rose inside of it Thursday morning.

The rescue was one of several in and around Pittsburgh's North Hills after thunderstorms parked over the area and dumped more than 2 inches of rain.

Already soaked from Wednesday night's thunderstorm, the National Weather Service stated that the resulting floods posed a "dangerous and potentially deadly situation during the morning rush hour."

Allegheny County 911 dispatchers said they were dealing with numerous calls of vehicles getting stuck as people try to drive on flooded streets as roads turned into rivers.

Several swiftwater rescue teams were dispatched.

PennDOT said flooding blocked traffic in Route 28's southbound lanes between Millvale and Pittsburgh's Troy Hill neighborhood.

As of 9 p.m. Thursday, less than 1,000 Duquesne Light customers remain without power, a company spokesman said. Duquesne Light crews have been working around the clock, on 16 hour shifts, since Wednesday night and will continue until all customers are restored. Service has been restored to about 19,000 customers who were without power at the peak of the first storm Wednesday.

Particularly hard-hit communities still without power include Penn Hills, Ross, Fox Chapel and Shadyside.

Service is expected to be restored to the majority of customers by Friday morning.

The Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium will be closed Friday after it sustained damage from fallen trees and a loss of power. No animals were affected and electrical service was restored Thursday evening, zoo officials said.

The Red Cross said one of its teams distributed more than 30 cleanup kits to residents in Millvale and Shaler. "We will be back in the community again on Friday," a Red Cross spokesman said.

Flooding made numerous roads impassable, including parts of Babcock Boulevard, McKnight Road and Thompson Run Road in Ross. About 30 passengers aboard a Port Authority of Allegheny County had to be rescued as water rushed in.

A volunteer firefighter with the Evergreen Fire Department stopped the bus around 8:20 a.m., said Adam Brandolph, a Port Authority spokesman. Flooding ahead had closed the road. Within minutes, the bus was caught in a flash flood and water rose inside to near the seats.

Firefighters from several departments pulled passengers through the front and out of the side emergency exits, Brandolph said. No one was hurt.

Port Authority's Operations Division is investigating if the driver followed proper procedure for the situation. Brandolph said that the bus did not drive into rising flood water but that the water rose around the bus.

Elsewhere, crews blocked off Babcock Boulevard at Church Road. Some businesses along Babcock Boulevard closed while others braced for cleanup.

Flood waters blocked the entrance to Pittsburgh Mobile Concrete, causing the Babcock Boulevard company to close for the first time in 14 years.

"It was unbelievable," said co-owner Lisa Zelich.

The area flooded about a year ago causing the company to replace the floors, but it didn't have to close then, she said. Zelich worried what her customers would do while the company cleaned up. Pittsburgh Water and Sewer contractors doing line replacements are frequent customers, Zelich said.

"I just feel bad for our everyday customers because they had to go find other suppliers," Zelich said.

But Peoples Road in Ross Township was closed to traffic at the intersection at Babcock Boulevard until further notice because of a culvert issue, according to PennDOT.

The posted detour north of the intersection:

• Follow Babcock Boulevard to McKnight Road

• Take the ramp to McKnight Road (South Truck 19) toward Pittsburgh

• Take the ramp to Westview Avenue

• Turn left onto Westview Avenue

• Turn right onto Nelson Run Road

• Turn left onto Ivory Avenue

• Turn left onto Evergreen Road

• Evergreen Road becomes Peoples Road

Traffic south of the detour will be redirected:

• Follow Peoples Road/Evergreen Road to Ivory Avenue

• Turn right onto Ivory Avenue

• Turn right onto Nelson Run Road

• Turn left onto the ramp to northbound McKnight Road

• From northbound McKnight Road, take the ramp toward West View/Millvale

• Turn left onto Babcock Boulevard

• Follow Babcock Boulevard back to the intersection with Peoples Road

The floods ripped away a section of Matt Mertz Plumbing's parking lot, said Lisa Mertz, co-owner. The asphalt and some piping was carried down the road.

"The water was so strong it could've swept a person away," Mertz said.

When the Mertzes arrived from their North Hills home at 6 a.m., it was raining, but nothing was flooded yet, Lisa Mertz said.

Then around 8 a.m., the flooding began — and fast.

"It came out of nowhere," Mertz said. "I've never seen this before. It was gushing down the road. The drains couldn't handle this amount of water."

The business remained open Thursday, which is good because Mertz plans to be busy going to homes with flooded basements.

Pittsburgh's North Side and East End neighborhoods took the brunt of the storms late Wednesday and early Thursday. Reservoir Road in Highland Park was closed as crews clean up downed trees and debris. The Highland Park pool was closed.

Washington Boulevard remained closed into Thursday evening.

Dan Gilman, chief of staff for Pittsburgh, tweeted that there was "serious damage" on the North Side. Spring Garden Avenue was closed.

Police closed the Parkway North's McKnight Road exit, redirecting traffic to Evergreen Road.

National Weather Service forecaster Bob Coblentz meteorologist said these powerful thunderstorms have been building up all week, and was no wind to push them away. Communities located directly beneath those stalled storms got unrelenting rain, while neighboring areas had mild weather.

An overnight front is expected to move in and push the storms away, Coblentz said.

Assistant news editor Aaron Aupperlee contributed to this report. Jacob Tierney and Theresa Clift are Tribune-Review staff writers.


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Tony Ruffolo/WPXI-TV
Firefighters with rescue rafts were seen Thursday morning in response to flooding on Babcock Boulevard in the North Hills.
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WPXI
A firefighter with a rescue raft wades through floodwaters on Babcock Boulevard in Ross Township Thursday, July 5, 2018.
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Lisa Zelich, co-owner of Pittsburgh Mobile Concrete, looks at the flooding outside her Babcock Boulevard company on Thurday, July 5, 2018. (Photo from Theresa Clift)