Christmas Eve storm may bring flooding
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City residents and others in the region need to monitor the weather today as a hard-driving rain is expected to arrive this afternoon and continue through Christmas Eve before stopping on Christmas morning, a forecaster said.
"You should monitor forecasts and be alert for possible flood warnings," said Steve Travis, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in State College.
Those living in areas prone to flooding should be prepared to take action should flooding develop, he said.
Warmer temperatures today into the low-50s combined with the 9 inches of snow left on the ground from a record-setting snowfall of 24.7 inches last week may caused localized flooding, he said.
Travis said he anticipated at least 2 to 3 inches of rain to fall over an 18-hour period.
"It will be heavy at times," he said.
Urban flooding is possible on streets where storm drains remain clogged by snow, he said.
"We could see wet basements," he said.
The storm front is moving west to east and packing some wind with it, and after the warm up today the temperatures drop back into the 20s freezing whatever remains, he said.
City street crews will be positioned and ready to respond to any flooding of Grafius Run or other drainage systems in the city, said Adam Winder, acting general manager of the city streets and parks department.
"We will have a man prepared to get on the frontloader to remove trash if Grafius Run becomes a problem," he said.
Winder, like city Fire Chief Mark Killian did before the storm with a message to residents, who were able, to assist in removing snow from drainage basins, asked city residents who are able to clear snow from the drainage in the streets to prevent street flooding.
The city has 20,000 such inlets, catch basins and drainage systems, Winder said.
As the storm approached, city streets crews scrambled to remove tons of snow from the downtown central business district Wednesday.
Many trucks took snow away from the curbline on William, Pine and other streets.
The snow was transferred in dump trucks to Bowman Field parking lot, Winder said.