Pittsburg, PA
Defining the terms
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Recently we had some intense rainfall that caused intense flooding.
That might even be an understatement.
The rainfall was so heavy near Oakdale that swift water rescue crews were called out to rescue people and roads were closed because the Oakdale area had life-threatening flooding.
When all is said and done, that area saw a 40 or 50-year flood!
But what does the term “50-year flood” even mean? To help explain, let’s bring in our friend Fred McMullen from the National Weather Service office in Pittsburgh.
You can read Elizabeth and I’s conversation with Fred below!
Elizabeth: Hi Fred! What is a 50-year flood?
Fred: It really encapsulates a rainfall event within a certain time window. And so, when we say you know, a 50-year flood, we’re looking for a certain precipitation amount in a certain time window, and then over a location because it varies by location. One of the misnomers that people have is they think they can get a 100-year flood in back-to-back years. What we try to tell people is that a 100-year flood is just really a 1% chance of occurrence every single year. So, if you have a 100-year flood at your house, the next year, the probability is still 1%. But again, I’m giving you just one, you would think it’d be a little bit less than the previous year.
Ray: What does this mean for people?
Fred: Say you take a 30-year mortgage on your house and a 1% chance of occurrence flood which is you know, essentially one in 50. You know, 150 to 100 years, has a 1% chance of occurrence, but over the life of your mortgage, if you weren’t in the 100-year floodplain, there’s a 26% chance that during the life of your mortgage of 30 years that you could see a 100-year flood. So, over time those numbers go up there based on the math calculations.
Elizabeth: Can anything change the definition of these floods?
Fred: We have river stages, and then we associate certain impacts at this level, this road closes. Stream channels can change over time, especially the ones that haven’t had a flood in say 20 to 30 years, and we see impacts that you know are not happening where they used to be, so those are some of the changes that we have. And then also with urbanization, you know, we put more houses in a location. There’s more runoff into the stream, and then we typically see higher stream flows, and then that could lead to more flooding potentially given more runoff.
Ray: How do more frequent and heavy rainfall events factor into this?
Fred: We were going through a process now where we’re updating this atlas here, so we’ll have you know, more data, more recent data to allow us to kind of tweak those numbers so some places where you don’t see a lot of development. Heavier rain events will lead to, you know, higher frequency. It may not lead to the same amount of impact as you would in a place that has big urban sprawl but allows us to fine-tune the data to make sure we have an accurate representation because the datasets are always moving. Flooding occurs at random intervals. It could be that you’re gonna have two or three years of really wet years, then go through a dry spell. California was really dry, and reservoirs really low. The last two winters we’ve had a lot of rain events. Now the reservoirs were back at, you know, at full levels. So it’s one of those things where we tried to kind of capsulate trends and trends and science trends in the atmosphere and trends and whether anything else,
With America celebrating its 250th birthday this summer, a major landmark in Pittsburgh will celebrate its 100th birthday.
Allegheny County announced a 100th Birthday Bash for the Andy Warhol Bridge on Saturday, June 27, from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato made the event official on Friday morning and said it will feature art, music, games, and more.
“Allegheny County’s history is filled with innovation and creativity, beautiful architecture, and talented homegrown artists, and the Andy Warhol Bridge encapsulates all of that in one iconic structure,” said Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato. “I hope everyone will come down for a fun day of art, community, and a shared celebration of our history on June 27.”
Part of the celebration will be art projects hosted and led by the Andy Warhol Museum and the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. Local artist Strawberry Luna will also create a special, commemorative poster celebrating the bridge’s history.
The Andy Warhol Bridge is the only bridge in the country to be named for a visual artist, according to Allegheny County.
“As our nation commemorates the U.S. Semiquincentennial, it is fitting that we recognize the oldest of the three Sister Bridges, which represent Pittsburgh’s tradition of innovation, ingenuity, and ‘we can do it’ spirit,” said Andy Masich, president and CEO of the Senator John Heinz History Center. “These iconic bridges, painted in ‘Aztec Gold’ as an homage to the city’s official colors, are symbols of Pittsburgh’s vibrancy, culture, and most importantly, its people.”
Formerly known as the Seventh Street Bridge, it was renamed the Andy Warhol Bridge in 2005 to honor the famous artist as well as the 10th anniversary of the Andy Warhol Museum, which is two blocks away.
A man was critically injured after being assaulted by a group of people in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood on Thursday evening, authorities said.
Pittsburgh Public Safety said officers were called to South St. Clair and Eva streets around 5 p.m. for reports of a man who was assaulted by a group of people. The assault happened next to a Whole Foods store.
At the scene, which bordered a park with a playground, first responders found a man who was unconscious and not breathing. Officers and medics performed CPR on the man until he was taken to a local hospital in critical condition. The exact nature of his injuries was not released.
Pittsburgh Public Safety said “several males of unknown age” were detained and transported to police headquarters for questioning. It was not immediately known if any of them would be charged.
A KDKA-TV crew observed a second police scene nearby on Centre Avenue next to The Fresh Market, which was previously a Whole Foods. At that scene, KDKA-TV observed what appeared to be at least one teenager being taken into a police car. A witness told KDKA-TV they saw police questioning nearly 10 people, ranging from grade schoolers to teenagers.
Pittsburgh Public Safety did not say what led up to the assault.
“Those kids, whoever they were, need to be reprimanded for that, because that was horrible, horrible,” said Asia Wilter, who was nearby on Thursday evening.
Over the weekend, another man was assaulted outside a 7-Eleven store on Penn Avenue in Downtown Pittsburgh. Police say the assault started inside the 7-Eleven after the victim mentioned to an employee that he believed a group of teenage males was shoplifting.
Pittsburgh police say the victim scraped his elbow and had a small abrasion on his face. He refused to be transported to the hospital, but police say he went on his own to get checked out. Police are searching for the teens.
Earlier this month, six teenage girls were charged after authorities said they chased a woman into a Sephora store in East Liberty and beat her. Sephora’s loss prevention officer estimated the teens caused approximately $30,000 in damage.
Pittsburg, PA
Bystander helps students involved in school bus crash in Pittsburgh’s Highland Park neighborhood
Just before 8 a.m. on Thursday morning, a school bus rammed into a tree in Highland Park.
The students on the bus were being transported to Schiller STEAM Academy when the driver began to swerve, ultimately running off the road and colliding with the tree on Bryant Street.
According to EMS, about 10 students were on the bus, and they were evaluated on the scene. Medics on the scene determined the students had not been injured in the crash.
A woman who lived nearby heard the crash and immediately jumped into action to help the students.
“Utmost importance was the kids’ safety,” said Vinnie Branch, the bystander. “I just wanted to make sure they were safe, and I just went into mom mode to protect them.”
“I think it looks a lot worse than it turned out to be,” said Brian Haravan, Pittsburgh EMS District Chief. “Thankfully, the utility pole wasn’t damaged, so while the school bus and property were, everyone else seemed ok.”
The driver of the bus was taken to the hospital for evaluation, and the cause of the crash is under investigation.
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