Residents On East Coast Brace For More Potential Flash Flooding

Areas of the United States stretching from the Carolinas up into New England have experienced flash flooding in recent days due to a large, rain-producing weather pattern that has positioned itself along the eastern seaboard. Rain and thunderstorms capable of triggering new flash flooding and severe weather will continue to plague the East into the upcoming 4th of July holiday weekend. The humid, moist air that enveloped the eastern part of the country last week will hang on this week to make conditions just right for more downpourings or rain which could very well result in widespread flash flooding across many states in the East.

Because there has been a lot of rain coming down over the past few weeks in the East, it won’t take much more to cause flash flooding as the ground is already saturated. Just one inch of rain falling in about a 3-hour period of time is enough to cause flash flooding and that has a lot of people worried heading into the holiday weekend. What’s causing all the wet weather is a stream of tropical moisture that stretches from the Caribbean Sea to the Gulf of Mexico and up along the eastern coastline. Many locations in the US have gotten up to three times their normal rainfall since the beginning of June. This on-going weather pattern could dump up to 6 more inches of rain on already saturated ground in the East. If that much rain does come down, very serious and even life-threatening flooding could take place this week and heading into the Independence Day weekend.

Weather experts are not all that concerned with major river flooding but rather with flooding of low-lying areas. During the day on Monday, there were several incidents of flash flooding which took place, spreading from parts of New Jersey up into mid-Massachusetts. Just last week, heavy rainfall triggered very serious flash flooding in some parts of Pennsylvania and upstate New York. The same thing can take place this week which could affect many metropolitan areas and especially along the heavily-populated I-95 corridor.

Heavy rain caused flooding all across the state of Pennsylvania this past weekend and even triggered a landslide in Moon Township. Luckily the landslide didn’t result in any injuries. Flood watches were in effect all day Monday for Philly, northeastern Pennsylvania and much of the center of the state as heavy rains were in the forecast. The Philadelphia area has already received a record-breaking amount of rain during the month of June. And, if the National Weather Service is right, Philly will get another couple of inches of rain before all is said and done this week. The community of Dubois which is located about 75 miles northeast of Pittsburgh had some very serious flooding problems last week. Residents there are not looking forward to more rain as they’re still trying to clean up the mess left by the latest round of flooding.

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