How did the flash floods happen? Authorities uncertain about approach to fixing problem
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Mud-covered vehicles destroyed Friday in flooding on Washington Boulevard await their fate at the Pittsburgh Police Zone 5 Station. -
Cars caught in flash flooding on Washington Boulevard are covered with mud and debris.
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After four people drowned in a flash flood on a road on a weekday afternoon in the midst of a major America city, the question that lingers is obvious: Why did this happen?
"It's hard to believe those kind of events can still happen," said Tom Palmosina, co-director of the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority.
How it happened is a difficult question in the case of the two women and two children who died Friday afternoon near the intersection of Washington and Allegheny River boulevards because a nearly identical flood occurred there just a month ago and the three governments responsible for the infrastructure had already begun talking about how to fix the problem.
"There are a lot of people who are involved and responsible here," said city councilman Patrick Dowd, who also sits on the PWSA board. "In my mind we're all responsible. The city is responsible for water before it enters the sewer. PWSA is responsible for water in its pipes that it conveys to" the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority.
The number of people who died in the flooding jumped from three to four on Saturday when searchers found the body of Mary Saflin, 72, of Oakmont, along the shore of the Allegheny River near Washington Boulevard. Investigators believe she got out of her car in the flood and was drawn into a storm sewer near the road and drowned.
PG GRAPHICThe bodies of Kimberly Griffith, 45, of Plum, and her daughters Brenna, 12, and Mikaela, 8, were found Friday night in their car, which was submerged in 9 feet of water around 4 p.m. Friday, trapping and drowning them along the road.
Three Pittsburgh police officers and Raymond DeMichiei, deputy director of the Pittsburgh office of Emergency Management, who used two row boats commandeered from a nearby marina, and River Rescue personnel rescued 15 people who were clinging to trees or stranded on the roofs of their vehicles.
First Published August 21, 2011 12:00 am
