Several areas of North Hills hit hard by flash flooding

Heavy rain through much of the morning on Thursday caused widespread flash flooding in the North Hills.

Numerous roads, including sections of Babcock Boulevard were closed down as stormwater sent debris down hillsides.

Emergency responders had to pump water out of the basements of a number of homes along Girty’s Run when the engorged tributary overflowed its banks during the height of the storm.

The large amount of stormwater running through an underground channel along McKnight Road in Ross caused a portion of McKnight Circle at the entrance to the Waldorf Park apartments to collapse, leaving a 10-foot deep crater.

A home along Pine Creek Road in McCandless had 6-feet of water in the front yard and flowed into the garage, where it caused significant property damage.

“I have a brand new tractor and thousands of dollars worth of tools in the garage,” said homeowner Brandon Schweiger, 30.

“When we bought the house we were told that the property only flooded once in the past 20 years,” he said. “But we’ve had flooding five times already in the year since we’ve lived here. It’s been bad, but nothing like what happened today.”

Across Route 19, workers from several dealerships in the North Hills scrambled to remove cars stored at the former Rave Cinema theater site along Blazier Drive.

Scores of cars had water up to their doors and one at the back of the property was nearly submerged, according to police.