The Hawks' Nest: Flood 2011

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Flood 2011

Thankfully our home stayed high and dry despite the best efforts of Tropical Storm Lee. The flooding, however, made an impression on our neighbor's yard. The stream reached its peak on Wednesday night and the current was so strong, both Zach and I were wide awake. Even though it was 1:00 am, we walked outside in the torrential rain to investigate the damage. We were quite surprised by what we saw.

The entire side of the adjoining driveway on our neighbor's side washed away. We happened to see neighbors outside from two doors down and they had heard the wall give way. It was rather incredible. Thankfully, that was the extent of the damage and the bridge remains stable and intact. I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

High water line

Neighbor's bridge - large walking bridge brought down from upstream neighbors

This road was flooded with swifly flowing water, running off the hillside.

Pictures of our yard

Obviously, this damage is rather trivial in comparison to flooding disasters along the Swatara Creek, Yellow Breeches, and Susquehanna River. Below are some pictures of the area that I have included to document this historical flood - the worst since Hurricane Agnes in 1972. Definitely a state of disaster.