West Pittston Dodges Ice Dam(n)

A few photographs from the recent ice dam (or is that "ice, damn"...English is a such an imprecise language) during the week of January 22nd, 2018.

An ice dam formed on the Susquehanna River, just south of West Pittston, Pennsylvania.  Actually, the river had been full of ice for a few weeks.

January 14th, looking south.

As an area that is prone to flooding, there were much to be worried about as the water level rose on Wednesday.

Water forced the closing of the Water Street bridge.

We bought our home in 2013, on something of a haste basis, as I was about to become homeless due to the sale of my prior dwelling.  That's a different story for a different day (that I've probably already told on the blog, somewhere), but one of the things we made certain to do was make sure our proposed new home was out of the flood zone.  The zoning officer told Ms. Rivers and me that if our house were to flood, it would be "the end of days".  We took him at his word; the prior owners confirmed for us that the house was completely dry during the massive flood of 2011.

Getting back to Wednesday, as the evening wore on, the Borough of West Pittston issued a mandatory evacuation for the following areas:

Map courtesy of the Borough of West Pittston, via the Citizen's Voice.

Fortunately, around 11:30pm or so on Wednesday, the ice dam broke and water levels began to recede.  By Thursday morning the mandatory evacuation has been canceled and the clean-up began.  

What was left along the banks of the Susquehanna River can best be described as a boulder field.

It's likely the boulder field will be here well into May, barring a very warm rest of the Winter/early Spring.

10 Observations about living in West Pittston, Pennsylvania

(Photo credit:  West Pittston Historical Society)

In no real order, for no apparently reason.

1. Mansions and Such - On my very street we have a beautiful single family Victorian home for sale, at an asking price of around $230,000.  Next door to it?  A place that look like it's crystal meth central for this side of the Susquehanna.  Go figure.
2. Walking - I think it's probably possible to circumnavigate the entire town in about an hour.  I swear that's true. 
3. Cherry Blossom Festival - Yawn. 
4. Trees - The town needs more trees.  No, I'm actually just kidding.  We have plenty of trees here.  Next.
5. Supermarket - The closest supermarket is Gerrity's, and I have just about given up on it.  I was there once and they didn't have cucumbers.  I kid you not.  We need a Wegman's here, or at least a Giant.
6. Recycling Ritual - Despite curb-side pickup of recycling, I think 90% of the town actually goes to the public works building every Saturday morning to drop off their recycling.  I do, and I'm not even a native.  It must be some kind of social thing that I, as a dyed in the wool introvert, simply fail to grasp.
7. Dogs - I'm convinced that we are the only people in town who don't own a dog.  
8. Diversity - I'm kind of thinking that the borough flower should be a Lilly.
9. River Walk - It's actually really neat to walk along the river, provided that the shore of the river isn't also Wyoming Avenue.
10. The Borders are Silly - I can walk less than 10 minutes in one direction and be in Exeter.  About a half hour later and I'll be in another town.  What do all of these borders really meany anyway?  I'm convinced that all of these little towns simply exist in order to give some folks the title of "mayor".  It's like some kind of bizzaro EEOC requirement for older white guys; think "every old white guy should have the chance to be a mayor of his own town at some point".