Heavy Rains Prompt Landslides, Flooding And State Of Emergency Declaration

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LIBERTY BOROUGH (KDKA) - The mayor of Liberty Borough declared a state of emergency after flash flooding in the area Sunday evening.

Several homes on Owens Avenue and Oakland Drive had flooding in the basements.

"Lost everything again and it smells really bad. Luckily the fire department is here just trying to keep more water from coming in," Cathy Jo Husar said.

Debra Lanyon spent part of Monday morning sweeping her driveway.

"It was horrible. The whole driveway flooded, covered the first step there, halfway up the tires," Lanyon said.

She says water even went into her basement and her next door neighbor's.

"It started raining about 6 o'clock and within an hour, it started flooding here," she said.

Liberty Borough Mayor Larry Sikorski says the flooding is the result of a drainage problem, because an improvement to the sewer system, means it can't take in rainwater.

"The street acts like a gutter. The gutter expedites the water downhill. Eventually, it goes to a storm sewer, the storm sewer gets overwhelmed because it wasn't designed to handle all that excess water," Larry Sikorski

The residents say the problems just need to be solved.

Meanwhile, a section of Route 51 in Overbrook flooded and cars had to slow down as they drove through the area.

In Jefferson Hills, water was spilling down a hillside on Peters Creek Road, flooding part of roadway. Peters Creek overflowed onto the road, too.

A tree was down across McKeesport Road leaning on power lines just past Elizabeth.

In addition to flooding, crews were also working to clear a landslide along Youghiogheny Road in Liberty Borough.

Another landslide along Route 837 in Union Township was still causing problems for motorists Monday morning.

Meghan Schiller's Report:

Around midnight, a tractor-trailer driver spotted the slide and got on his brakes, but was unable to avoid hitting the debris. The driver was able to get out of the vehicle through the passenger side door.

As of 6 a.m. Monday, the road was still closed.

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