West Pittston resident Pete Sidari shows exhaustion as he empties his Montgomery Avenue home once floodwaters receded.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
Dr. Frank Colella points to the record crest line left from Tropical Storm Lee at his former chiropratic office at the corner of Wyoming and Exeter Avenues, West Pittston.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
Agolino’s Restaurant’s tables and booths were tossed around like toys as the dining room was filled with floodwaters to nearly the ceiling.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
Truckload after truckload of dirt was unloaded on Susquehanna Avenue, Exeter, at its lowest point, to prevent flooding in the Borough.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
With the threat of flooding from Tropical Storm Lee at the Wyoming Valley Airport, Wyoming, airplanes were relocated to higher grounds at the Wyoming Monument.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
The entire block left of Crest Cleaners was razed due to structural damage from Tropical Storm Lee in September 2011.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
Tropical Storm Lee floodwaters rose to just above the bottom of the canvas awning at Agolino’s Restaurant on Luzerne Avenue, West Pittston. Eventually, the Bank of America was razed.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
Pennsylvania Senators Casey, center left, and Toomey, center right, held a press conference at the water’s edge on Wyoming Avenue, West Pittston. Far left was then West Pittston Mayor Tony Denisco. To the far right is former West Pittston Mayor Bill Goldsworthy.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
Residents along Susquehanna Avenue, West Pittston, have a front row seat as the Susquehanna River rises to record levels on Sept. 9, 2011.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
WEST PITTSTON — As the nation marks the 20th anniversary of the airplane attacks on Sept. 11, local residents noted the 10th anniversary of Tropical Storm Lee’s invasion on Greater Pittston.
Tropical Storm Lee came barreling northeast after making landfall from the Gulf of Mexico near the Mississippi River on Sept. 1, 2011.
Sixty-miles south of Greater Pittston, Pine Grove, Pa., recorded 15.22” of rain from Tropical Storm Lee. Colonial Beach, Virginia, recorded just shy of 21” of rain from the same system. It is estimated six to eight inches of rain fell in Greater Pittston.
On Sept. 8, from West Pittston to Nanticoke, mandatory evacuations were ordered due to the rising Susquehanna River.
The Susquehanna swelled to a record high of 42.66 feet on Sep. 9, 1’ 8” above Tropical Storm Agnes numbers from 1972. The levee system in place in Wilkes-Barre held, but West Pittstonians, some residents in Exeter and even portions of Pittston did not escape floodwaters.
National news media descended on West Pittston led by The Weather Channel and their lead meteorologist Jim Cantore.
The flood caused huge financial loss to businesses and residential properties to approximately one-quarter of West Pittston, which is less than one-square mile in size.
Businesses like Agolino’s Restaurant, Antonio’s Restaurant, the West Pittston Library, Crest Cleaners, Evans Hardware, Ballyhoo, The Salvation Army, Cefalo & Associates, Char & Company Salon Spa, the West Pittston Amory, Polit & Costello Dentistry, and numerous churches were affected by the flooding.
Hundreds of homes either had first floor flooding or basement-only water damage.
Approximately 30 homes have since been razed as a government buyout from Tropical Storm Lee, leaving large gaps in borough blocks never to be built on again.
Nearly the entire of the north side of the 100-block on Luzerne Avenue had to be razed, displacing businesses and residents. The borough has lost thousands and thousands of dollars in property taxes in the last 10 years.
Residents and business owners alike recently held their collective breaths when Hurricanes Henri and Ida trekked north, but were spared.
West Pittston Borough officials are lobbying hard for federal government infrastructure money to build a dike along the 1.3 miles of Susquehanna River shoreline. The effort may be the last gasp of hope in a battle for a levee system since 1972.
The Agnes flood was deemed the “100-year flood,” but since 1972, including the flood from Tropical Storm Lee in 2011, there have been close calls in 1996, 2004 and 2006.
