Road crews were swamped with work Thursday with a few flooding
problems and trees down as a downpour hit the area early in the
day.

Gary Alcock, head of public works for Bradford City, said they
had quite a few problems with the rain and flooding, though there
were no downed trees.

“A lot of leaves had plugged the top of some of the drains, and
in some areas, there was just too much water. The drains wouldn’t
handle it,” Alcock said. “In some areas when the rain stopped, the
water went down. Other areas, the drains were covered over with
leaves. In one area on East Avenue, we had to dig up a pipe because
it was filled in and we couldn’t find the outlet. We found the
pipe, and as soon as we poked a hole in the pipe, the water started
to run. That was one of the worst areas.”

Flooding problems were also reported on South and Jackson
avenues and Mechanic and East Main streets.

Joseph Sweet, head of the road department for Foster Township,
said there were no trees down in the township, but they did have
minor difficulties with water coming across the roads on Bolivar
Drive and Harrisburg Run.

“I’m glad it stopped when it did,” Sweet said. “It was getting
to the point where we could have had some major problems.”

Denny Thomas, road department foreman for Bradford Township,
said they were prepared for the storm and had only a few places
here and there with flooding problems.

“We had one call with a tree on West Corydon Street,” Thomas
said. “We were all set ahead of time. We knew it was coming. We had
some ditches plugged up and some catch basins, but we had them
cleaned out ahead of time.”

Bradford Township Police reported having a small tree down on
West Corydon Street but that road crews had taken care of it. They
also said there was high water due to the rain, but nothing real
serious.

The McKean County 911 Dispatch Center reported having flooding
in a few areas. The Otto Township Volunteer Fire Department was
called out at 4:11 p.m. Thursday for a pump detail to pump out a
basement, and the Star Hose Co. of Port Allegany was called out at
5:37 p.m. Thursday for another pump detail to pump out someone’s
basement.

Bruce Budd, meteorologist at the Penn State Weather Center in
State College, said there was rain overnight that started to come
down pretty good at 6 a.m.

“(Bradford) had about an inch and a half of rain there,” Budd
said. “Most of it came during the three-hour period where it came
down pretty heavy. You had a good soaking.”

Budd also said there were winds gusting up to 30 mph.

In the next few days, Budd said it was going to be drying out in
the area.

“Of course, in your part of the country, when you get west winds
there’s a risk for lake effect snow this time of year,” Budd said.
“I think the worst of the rain was today. It looks as though there
will be showers likely tonight (Thursday), but not too much with
winds 10 mph. Showers are likely (Friday). It’s not until late in
the day Friday night that there will be a chance of snow with lows
around 31. (Friday) will be cooler with highs around the low 40s.
Saturday, there’s a chance of rain or snow showers.”

Even though the rain soaked the area, many people in Bradford
were treated to a vibrant rainbow that extended over the city.