Thunderstorms and heavy rains can trigger more flash flooding problems and severe weather for those living on the East Coast as we head into the 4th of July weekend. The humid, moist weather that moved across the country last week will continue to provide more fuel for heavy downpourings of rain and thunderstorms for the East. Because there has been a lot of rainfall during the past few weeks in the East, it won’t take much more rain this week to cause flash flooding as the ground is already saturated across several eastern states including Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut.
June was the wettest June on record for Philadelphia, PA and Wilmington, DE. New York City was just an inch short of doing the same. Philly got over 10 ½ inches of rain during June which broke the old record of just over 10 inches which fell during June in 1938. On Monday, the National Weather Service put a flash flood warning in effect until 1pm for several counties in the states of New Jersey and New York. The service stated that very heavy rain was due to fall over those counties that could total to more than four inches by afternoon. It warned that flash flooding could cause creeks, streams, urban areas, highways and streets to flood as well as areas with poor drainage or those in low-lying spots.
A flash flood warning means that flooding is sure to occur or is already occurring. The NWS has warned those people living in areas under flash flood warnings to move to higher ground immediately. It also warns travelers not to attempt to drive their vehicles through areas which are flooded as it’s nearly impossible to know who deep or fast moving the water is.
Litchfield County in Connecticut took the brunt of the heavy rainfall Sunday in that state and the same thing could happen again early this week. A total of five inches of rain fell in Sharon, CT Sunday, flooding many streets when local streams overflowed their banks. Work crews have been out in that community repairing streets that were damaged from the flooding. A town official said that Sharon couldn’t handle any more rain. There were numerous homes in Sharon which had basement flooding. There was also a local shopping center in the middle of town that had water inside following the heavy downpours.
In Bangor, Maine, flash flood waters destroyed an underground control system and ripped through a neighborhood, resulting in a lot of damage early Monday morning on Messinger Street. The flooding that took place there damaged the foundations of several garages and flowed down the street, quickly filling basements. All that was left when the water receded was mud and a lot of rocks, leaving affected residents with a load of cleanup work to do. Luckily, no injuries were reported as a result of the flash flooding in Bangor although several homes received significant damage. One family had to be rescued from their home when the flash flooding left their house completely surrounded by water, leaving them stranded.