From staff reports
The 2018 record amounts of rain in northwestern Pennsylvania could have caused serious flooding problems along the Allegheny River from its headwaters in New York south to Pittsburgh.
A report by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, operators of the Kinzua Dam on the river at Warren, shows the dam and reservoir dramatically decreased flooding threats.
According to an article this week in the Warren Times-Observer, the dam and reservoir “prevented nearly $50 million in flood damage during 2018, making the total damage prevented since its construction in the 1960s at $1,330,541,000.”
The newspaper story noted federal officials said the 2018 numbers exceed the 10-year average of $310.3 million.
A statement issued by the Corps of Engineers said that “when a storm enters the basin, the district’s 16 dams and reservoirs impound runoff and precipitation to cut the downstream flood crest on rivers and then release the stored water in a controlled manner after the crest has passed to make space for the next storm’s runoff. As a result, the dams and reservoirs have prevented nearly $13 billion in flood damages since their construction.”
The Corps of Engineers, according to the Times-Observer, highlighted two tropical storms Gordon and Florence as “the most significant flood event” of the fiscal year 2018 period.
“Of the 8.5 inches that occurred over the month in Pittsburgh, 5.61 inches fell as a result of Gordon in a 60-hour period from the September 8-10,” the Corps said. “Close to ten inches of rain was recorded during this time frame, with the heaviest rain just south of the Pittsburgh International Airport. The 3.73 inches that occurred in the 24 hours period ending on the September 9 was the second highest rainfall total for Pittsburgh since the remnants of Hurricane Ivan hit the area in September 2004.”
Overall flood damage from the September 2018 storm that affected Pennsylvania and four surrounding states amounted to more than $340 million, reported the Army Corps of Engineers.