Kim Zannikos has seen flooding before at her Murrysville town house, but nothing like what she saw Friday.
It was so bad that her SUV, parked at the far end of the property, away from Old William Penn Highway, and with Turtle Creek on the other side, was not spared. Water reached her vehicle, and it wouldn’t start Saturday.
“That end never flooded before,” she said. “This time it was out of control.”
About 4 feet of water got into the first floor of her three-story home.
She was told her renters insurance won’t cover flood damage.
After the family’s natural gas was shut off, Zannikos said, they were told they could not stay there.
“We never had to be evacuated by boat before,” she said.
Zannikos was among residents and business owners cleaning up and assessing damage after Friday’s heavy rains. There was damage to homes and businesses, vehicles and the Westmoreland Heritage Trail.
While the highest rainfall measured by the National Weather Service, 3.96 inches, was in Trafford, there could have been higher amounts in spots, meteorologist Jason Frazier said.
Murrysville Mayor Regis Synan said he received reports of 4.5 to 6 inches.
Another half-inch to 1 inch of rain is expected with showers Sunday morning and thunderstorms Sunday afternoon, Frazier said.
Citing the combination of saturated grounds and the potential for heavy rain, the National Weather Service issued a flash food watch covering all of Southwestern Pennsylvania from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday. There is marginal risk for strong to damaging winds between 2 and 8 p.m.
More showers and storms during the afternoon and evening Monday are expected to bring another quarter- to half-inch of rain, with the potential for higher amounts locally, after which the area should dry out, Frazier said.
Rain is then expected to hold off until Friday, into the weekend.
As residents and business owners were cleaning up, authorities were assessing the damage Saturday, the amount of which will factor into what assistance ultimately may be available.
Residents are being urged to call 211 so damage can be recorded.
State Rep. Jill Cooper, R-Murrysville, said residents also can contact her office for help.
“Anything I can do to try to help at the state, I’m going to do that,” she said while accompanying other officials outside Ginny’s Neighborhood Pizza Joint, not far from Zannikos’ town house.
Despite the damage in Murrysville and other Westmoreland County communities, no injuries were reported, county public safety Director Roland “Bud” Mertz said.
Westmoreland’s 911 center took an additional 500 calls Friday, he said. Nearly 100 people were evacuated, Mertz said.
The parking lot of Ginny’s was coated with a layer of mud, with at least two vehicles remaining there that had been submerged in floodwater.
Barbara Bostedo of Delmont said she had taken her granddaughter to work at Ginny’s, arriving 10 minutes before 4 p.m. Friday. Within 40 minutes, water was up to the windshield of her 2008 Hyundai, a car her granddaughter named Annabelle.
“I was totally in shock,” she said. “There was nothing you could do.”
They were among those taken out of Ginny’s by boat to the nearby Helltown brewery. Plum resident Josiah Selednik, who works a pizza maker at Ginny’s, was among them.
“We were basically besieged,” he said. “It was pretty crazy.”
Selednik’s car was more fortunate, as he moved it before the flooding got worse. His father, Peter Selednik, was pulling mulch out of the front end to prevent it from overheating.
Peter Selednik said things weren’t too bad at his home in Plum, nothing like what happened in Murrysville.
“We feel fortunate,” he said.
Firefighters smashed out the driver’s side window of Bostedo’s car. “They wanted to make sure no one was in the car,” Bostedo said.
Bostedo said her insurance agent told her the car would be towed and a representative would look it over, but she knows the outcome already.
“You’re not fixing it,” she said. “I’m just glad I kept full coverage on it.”
Water was almost up to Tiffany Althof’s knees at the door to her tang soo do dojang, True Martial Arts, in the same plaza as Ginny’s. It was about 2 inches deep through the building, and on Saturday her daughters were squeegeeing out a thin layer of mud.
“We just have to do a lot of cleaning,” she said. “It’s going to be hard work.”
Althof was hoping she could get everything back in order within two weeks, but she was worried about more rain on Sunday.
“Maybe we needed a little bit of an upgrade and this was the sign to get to work,” she said.
While the damage at Ed’s Auto Service was mostly soaked carpeting, a potentially more serious problem might have been averted when they spotted an extension cord that was underwater and beginning to short out and smoke, said Dylan Boby, whose wife, Renee Boby, bought the business from her father in 2023.
Dylan Boby said they had 3 to 4 inches of water throughout the building and he was there until 1:30 a.m. Saturday dealing with it.
“Today and tomorrow, we’ll try to clean up and fix what needs to be fixed,” he said.
Nearby, Hank Wonders said his house had not taken floodwater since 2009, which was before the Export flood control project was built in 2011.
“We were hoping it would never happen again,” he said.
As the rain tapered off Friday, Wonders thought they were OK.
“All of a sudden, it just started coming up,” he said.
He ended up with more than 2 feet of water in the first floor of his house, while a large garage in the back had 4 feet. Wonders, who has flood insurance, said this will be the fourth time he’s made a claim.
“We didn’t have time to move the furniture out of the way,” he said. “It came up really quick.”
There were at least three areas of significant damage on the Westmoreland Heritage Trail, which runs along Turtle Creek, said Chad Emahizer, a member of the trail’s board of directors. However, an assessment had not been done as of Saturday, and reports were just starting to come in.
A deeply washed-out area severing the trail near Ginny’s was the worst of the damage, he said.
Despite the damage, an annual community festival and poker run went on Saturday as scheduled.
Repairs are expected to take weeks and may require hiring contractors, Emahizer said.
Damage in Allegheny County
Cleanup continued across the region Saturday after the storms left parts of several towns flooded, with some residents having been rescued from their homes by boat.
Allegheny County officials said the hardest-hit communities were Monroeville, Penn Hills, Pitcairn, White Oak, McKeesport, North Versailles, Wall and parts of Plum.
Five swiftwater units were called out to the White Oak/McKeesport and North Versailles areas. The county reported that at least three people were rescued from two homes in North Versailles and someone was rescued from a vehicle stranded in high waters on Route 48 in White Oak.
Numerous landslides were reported throughout the county, and Allegheny County Emergency Services was working Saturday to determine all of the locations and the extent of the damage.
The county said more storms are expected Sunday and Monday, so there could be more flash flooding.
The county is asking that, where possible, storm grates and downspouts are cleared and creeks are flowing free of debris to reduce the chance of more flooding.
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