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Recent Pennsylvania Flooding Stream Impacts Throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania, conservation and environmental officials continue to assess the state of streams and creeks in the wake of massive flooding on June 27-28. Engorged by record rainfall, many typically tame waterways ripped away river banks and rock. A number of articles, summarized below, characterize the effects of the floods. Many rehabilitated streams survive flood Devastating floods triggered by Hurricanes Agnes and Ivan left some of the region’s major streams in dire need of rehabilitation. It’s still early, but an initial survey of Lackawanna County has shown that stretches of Rushbrook Creek, Stafford Meadow Brook and other waterways previously bolstered by stream rehabilitation work appear to have survived the most recent flooding. http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16887858&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=416046&rfi=6 Luzerne Conservation District evaluating county streams Water drove through local streams with such force during the storm that it created pathways and tore out banks and retaining walls meant to keep it in line. If left untouched, these areas could flood with less rain, which is why the Luzerne Conservation District is conducting an emergency flood damage assessment of Luzerne County’s 1,305 miles of streams. http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/news/local/14975357.htm Invasive species of plants add to flood damage along streams Flood waters caused much of the stream damage. But the silent accomplice from the storm was something more innocent-seeming: invasive flora. Japanese Knotweed crowds out existing plant life. And yet, its shallow roots do not allow it to hold up against flooding, unlike more hardy native species. When the water sweeps in, the plants and chunks of the stream banks crumble away. Moreover, the flooding uproots these plants and then carries them downstream, where they re-establish themselves. http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060702/NEWS/607020334/-1/NEWS Effects of the storm on the Bays After perhaps the region's biggest environmental event since Hurricane Agnes, water flowing downriver from New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania has made Delaware Bay substantially fresher and muddier. No one knows yet if the Delaware Bay and its rebounding oyster populations will suffer, but researchers believe the Delaware Bay will probably recover faster than the Chesapeake Bay because it normally flushes more rapidly into the Atlantic Ocean. If there is any damage from recent torrential rains, researchers expect to find it in the Chesapeake Bay. http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060717/NEWS/607170336/1006 |