12/18/13 Erie County Pa. may have potential flooding this weekend. Crazy huh? just getting into winter 41″ of snow so far and now rain for the weekend.
With the incoming rain, warmer temps and snow melting there will be a lot of water on the move. The ground is saturated so no chance of the water absorbing into it.
The reason for the message is for pond owners to check out their ponds , at least keep an eye on them for any debris that could have blown in from the previous storms or may get washed in by the rising water.
Take a minute and check out the emergency spillway for anything that could be blocking it and watch the overflow pipe through out the event this weekend. Watch for leaves and, twig even branches that can make their way to these areas and plug it up which could create a larger problem.
Let’s take a step back from the pond and check your window wells if you have them and head to the basement and check the sump pump is working, is there a battery back up, does it work and does the pump turn on. Another thing I’ve seen in the snow melt and rain is where the snow is piled up from plowing and even from drifting. Watch these areas as well because they can become a diverter or dam for the water run off to be pushed where it would not normally go as it would in the summer storms.
At the time of the release the heaviest rain is looking to be around Saturday night through Sunday so if you live near streams or rivers be on the look out for the rising waters. Flooding and flash floods are expected so please be safe while out driving, don’t be a hero and try to drive through the flooded road.
One more quick item to cover is your roofs, decks and flat surfaces. Since we have a lot of snow built up from the past storms it would be a good idea to remove some of this snow. Once the temp warms up and the rain hit the snow will become extremely heavy. Again use your best judgement for safety sake. If it is easy to get the snow off then do it, but if you are planning on taking the snow blower up on the roof think again and don’t do it,
At least there is a warm up for the weekend but still hope we have a white Christmas.
