Post-Tropical Ida (Cat 4 hurricane @ Landfall @12:55pm EDT, 40 mph, 998 mb, 28 mph NE) - possible area flood impact, tornadoes, and severe weather

[Newman]

Just now, BBasile said:

You know it's always possible, but you still never think you'd see that kind of tornadic destruction around here.   Roofs torn off, cars flipped, sure....but missing houses?  

Listening to some of the folks from this neighborhood, one person said "You know I NEVER took these warnings seriously. My wife used to always get pissed about it. Now look..."

[Hurricane Agnes]

1 minute ago, BBasile said:

Wow.  

I literally used that every morning going to work.  From where I am in Chestnut Hill, my whole route was along creeks (Cresheim, Wissahickon) and rivers (Schuylkill and finally to my office 2 blocks from the Delaware River).

That's why the last time it was like that during Floyd, I had to use Broad Street up most of the way north and then cut over through Germantown going west... and then try to find a few high and dry streets to get home. Took 3 hours for what would normally be a 30 minute (no traffic) to 45 minute (during heavier rush hours) trip to do the route.

[BBasile]

2 minutes ago, Newman said:

Listening to some of the folks from this neighborhood, one person said "You know I NEVER took these warnings seriously. My wife used to always get pissed about it. Now look..."

That's a problem everywhere.  People out west get numb to them.  People here think it'll never happen.  Sometimes it takes these disasters hitting close to home before the warnings are taken seriously.  Maybe this will change some minds for the future.  

[The Iceman]

9 minutes ago, Newman said:

Listening to some of the folks from this neighborhood, one person said "You know I NEVER took these warnings seriously. My wife used to always get pissed about it. Now look..."

That was the attitude of my father yesterday(who also lives in Levittown) when I called him telling him and my mom to take shelter asap. I had to literally tell him it was confirmed at the bridge for him to take it seriously even though there was a tornado emergency warning. I think it's a pretty common for people to ignore the warnings around here because while tornado warnings aren't that rare around here, actual violent tornados don't typically happen from them. We've seen several now this summer. 

 

Great pics btw, very sobering.

[Eskimo Joe]

39 minutes ago, Hurricane Agnes said:

I just found this - the entrance to the Vine St. Expressway at 22nd St. (going eastbound) coming off of both the little ramp from the Ben Franklin Parkway and from I-76 (Schuylkill Expressway) - 

Apparently the "Logan Square" neighborhood that is adjacent to that was flooded, including the brand new Giant Supermarket near there at ~23rd and Cherry St.

HOLY SH*T

[Mikeymac5306]

Valley Creek near the Valley Forge Nat’l Historical Park Covered Bridge in Tredyffrin Township. This was around 7PM last night.  Yes there is someone in that car. 

[Birds~69]

5 hours ago, JTA66 said:

It was kind of like Sandy squeezed into fewer hours.

Jeez, my flooding was so bad it picked up my tractor and drove it through the garage wall into the basement (among other damage).

9.50”

One of the news channels had video from lansdale yesterday. The camera was zoomed in on severely rushing water. I thought it was a creek ready to overflow. Then it zoomed out and it was a street....WTF? I don't the name of the street and the location didn't look familiar but damn!

Sucks about your flooding/damage. Does your insurance cover this? Fully...partially? Shit out of luck?

 

[Hurricane Agnes]

55 minutes ago, Eskimo Joe said:

HOLY SH*T

Wait, but there's more -

What looks like a "canal" or small "river" in the above pic is actually the ROADWAY for the Expressway that is under water (it is below street level with numbered streets that cross over it at intervals).

This is what it normally looks like -

[Hurricane Agnes]

Mt. Holly tweeted about the Mullica Hill tornado and the radar presentation -

I'm still learning what to look for in the different radar products so this is great...

[Birds~69]

12 minutes ago, Hurricane Agnes said:

Wait, but there's more -

What looks like a "canal" or small "river" in the above pic is actually the ROADWAY for the Expressway that is under water (it is below street level with numbered streets that cross over it at intervals).

This is what it normally looks like -

And it smells. NBC10 had a live reporter on the scene there and it looked like she was going to vomit from the stench..

[Hurricane Agnes]

9 minutes ago, Birds~69 said:

And it smells. NBC10 had a live reporter on the scene there and it looked like she was going to vomit from the stench..

I can image.

They are going to have to maybe run big dredger pumps to get some of that water out of there.  I know there are drains along the road but a this point, they are obviously clogged with mud and debris.  Geez.

[Birds~69]

5 minutes ago, Hurricane Agnes said:

I can image.

They are going to have to maybe run big dredger pumps to get some of that water out of there.  I know there are drains along the road but a this point, they are obviously clogged with mud and debris.  Geez.

Just think if the forecast for the next week was 95F+ HHH down there? People would practically have to wear a respirator to be anywhere near there. At least they have a good short term weather forecast... 

[Eskimo Joe]

45 minutes ago, Hurricane Agnes said:

Mt. Holly tweeted about the Mullica Hill tornado and the radar presentation -

I'm still learning what to look for in the different radar products so this is great...

The debris signature appears to have been lofted upwards of 20,000 ft and some of the debris was probably carried into Mercer County. Unreal. Mt. Holly WHO really has been the epicenter of mid atlantic and tornadoes this year.

[Hurricane Agnes]

1 minute ago, Eskimo Joe said:

The debris signature appears to have been lofted upwards of 20,000 ft and some of the debris was probably carried into Mercer County. Unreal. Mt. Holly WHO really has been the epicenter of mid atlantic and tornadoes this year.

I think pretty much all of us would give them major props for warning about this event - both the tornadoes and flash floods.

One of my former co-workers alerted to a tweet by someone who was staying in a hotel in Ft. Washington, PA where a suspected tornado occurred and had some video from his perspective from the hotel bathroom -

Also found another with a different view of the Mullica Hill tornado -

[BBasile]

54 minutes ago, Hurricane Agnes said:

I'm still learning what to look for in the different radar products so this is great...

Blue and green on CC, at the location of high reflectivity, at the location of the couplet = Oh f**k

 

Literally what I said when I saw it.  

[Hurricane Agnes]

5 minutes ago, BBasile said:

Blue and green on CC, at the location of high reflectivity, at the location of the couplet = Oh f**k

 

Literally what I said when I saw it.  

I had posted a 4-panel combo of different views (including the CC) from my GR2Analyst of it earlier in the thread. Have been wanting to capture a 3-D volumetric of one (kinda tricky to get since they aren't always on the ground that long around here).

 

[RedSky]

Drove around locally to see conditions with streams ponds etc. And one would never know it rained more than 1". 

Floods and blizzards at night 

[tamarack]

1 hour ago, Birds~69 said:

And it smells. NBC10 had a live reporter on the scene there and it looked like she was going to vomit from the stench..

In the Kennebec flood of 1987, when the river crested 22 feet above flood stage in Augusta, there was an overriding smell of gasoline.  A number of stations were flooded and water must've found a way in and floated the lighter gas up into the flood.
The Mullica Hill tornado was ironic for our SNJ family.  They lived in Decatur, IL - "real" tornado country - for 5 years and I don't think they had a major twister within 100 miles during that time.  Now there's one about 5 miles to their NW.

[Hurricane Agnes]

WPC updated rainfall totals -

[JTA66]

2 hours ago, Birds~69 said:

One of the news channels had video from lansdale yesterday. The camera was zoomed in on severely rushing water. I thought it was a creek ready to overflow. Then it zoomed out and it was a street....WTF? I don't the name of the street and the location didn't look familiar but damn!

Sucks about your flooding/damage. Does your insurance cover this? Fully...partially? Shit out of luck?

 

Thanks! I was on the phone with the insurance co first thing this am...we'll see. I'm thinking chances are 15% partially, 85% SOL.

Unbelievable pics and video throughout the region. Everyone I've spoken to today has a story to tell. Another "I" storm to be retired??

[Hurricane Agnes]

5 minutes ago, JTA66 said:

Thanks! I was on the phone with the insurance co first thing this am...we'll see. I'm thinking chances are 15% partially, 85% SOL.

Unbelievable pics and video throughout the region. Everyone I've spoken to today has a story to tell. Another "I" storm to be retired??

It is a PITA when it comes to anything to do with "water" and "flooding" because they'll say you need "flood insurance" (which is basically only offered by the government via whoever they use).  It comes down to how the damage is described and worded.

Really really sorry to hear that you got walloped multiple times where you live.   Wishing you luck for whatever you decide to do.

[Hurricane Agnes]

Just heard on KYW that the Montco tornado was confirmed as an EF2.  Mt. Holly tweet -

 

[Hurricane Agnes]

Another just heard on KYW - The tornado that didn't pay a toll going over the Burlington-Bristol bridge was confirmed as an EF1 -

 

[Eskimo Joe]

Just an unreal event. 2 big tornado days in PHI's CWA this year.

[mattinpa]

6 minutes ago, Hurricane Agnes said:

Another just heard on KYW - The tornado that didn't pay a toll going over the Burlington-Bristol bridge was confirmed as an EF1 -

 

The toll comment was funny but I didn’t want to make light of it with a laugh smiley. So I will just thank you for the good posts and updates.

[Hurricane Agnes]

Another confirmed - one in Bucks County (Buckingham) -

 

[Hurricane Agnes]

2 minutes ago, mattinpa said:

The toll comment was funny but I didn’t want to make light of it with a laugh avatar. So I will just thank you for the good posts and updates.

Thank you and I know i'm bad.... When I saw pics of it posted blowing past the tolls, I couldn't help it.  I don't know what all the damage was for that one but fortunately it was "only" a EF1.  I did see a post in the thread to a video on facebook as it crossed the river and then apparently the gulp of water seemed to have done it in and it looked like it dissipated not long after (for the most part).

[Birds~69]

1 hour ago, JTA66 said:

Thanks! I was on the phone with the insurance co first thing this am...we'll see. I'm thinking chances are 15% partially, 85% SOL.

Unbelievable pics and video throughout the region. Everyone I've spoken to today has a story to tell. Another "I" storm to be retired??

IMO 99% chance it will be retired.

Back in my early 20's I was renting a place w/a buddy in Limerick. Forget what storm but the basement was a disaster w/flooding. Call the Fire dept and they pumped it out for free...I was surprised. So if your basement is a mess w/flooding may want to try that route. (or local fire depts) Some may do it, some may not. Nothing to lose besides them telling you to F-off....

 

 

[Hurricane Agnes]

EF0 now confirmed by Mt. Holly in Princeton -

 

[Birds~69]

2 hours ago, tamarack said:

In the Kennebec flood of 1987, when the river crested 22 feet above flood stage in Augusta, there was an overriding smell of gasoline.  A number of stations were flooded and water must've found a way in and floated the lighter gas up into the flood.
The Mullica Hill tornado was ironic for our SNJ family.  They lived in Decatur, IL - "real" tornado country - for 5 years and I don't think they had a major twister within 100 miles during that time.  Now there's one about 5 miles to their NW.

The flooded water in Philly is just flat out crappy sewage water. Not even sure how fish live in that environment?  Myself, I'd rather smell gasoline if it wasn't toxic.

I grew up/ lived in this area (PA/Del/NJ) for 50 years and the tornadic activity this year has been by far the worse...not even close.