Thursday, June 29, 2006

Optimistic....and wrong


The river hasn't risen much overnight, but clearly the gauge at every station below Montague is showing the tip of a new spike. Not good news. But it is good news that the Montague appears to have crested and is falling, although at 30' it is still above flood stage (25'). Port Jervis is also receding and is now going below flood stage.

Unfortunately, Belvidere and Riegelsville show slight rises. Riegelsville is at 32.84 as of 7:30 AM, which means it is likely at 33.0 by now, or 11' above flood stage. The Lehigh at Bethlehem has fallen 8.0 feet and that is great news.

The Delaware River at the Rt. 22 Bridge is at 38.0 feet. That is EIGHTEEN FEET above flood stage. This is the confluence of the Lehigh and Delaware - the Forks of the Delaware.

It appears that people won't able to return to some of the flooded towns on the Delaware until Saturday at the earliest. I will report later upon return from a visit to the Lambertville waterfront to look across at New Hope. Lambertville only floods at its most vulnerable points, which happen to be near the confluences of the 2 creeks that flow through either end of town (Swan Cr. and Alexauken Cr.). As with many other creeks, these back up and flood adjacent areas and this scenario is played out all the way up to Hancock, NY. None of those confluences are more dramatic than the Forks at Easton-Phillipsburg where the NJ Youth Corp is seeing its third devasation.

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