The print edition of The Citizens' Voice, edited from a makeshift newsroom and printed as a sister newspaper after the rapidly rising Susquehanna River forced an evacuation of Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
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75,000 FORCED TO EVACUATE AS75,000 FORCED TO EVACUATE AS
SUSQUEHANNA THREATENS VALLEYSUSQUEHANNA THREATENS VALLEY
Friday, September 9, 2011 Newsstand 50¢COVERING THE GREATER WYOMING VALLEY
By Michael R. Sisak, Bob Kalinowskiand Andrew StaubStaff Writers
The Wyoming Valleybraced Thursday night forthe most devastating floodingin nearly four decades as theSusquehanna River swelledtoward a projected crest justshy of the level reached dur-ing Tropical Storm Agnes in1972.
Residents in a 22-mileswath from Exeter to Shick-shinny were ordered to evac-uate Thursday morning, thentold to accelerate their depar-ture as the river rose fasterthan expected. In low-lyingareas, murky river waterswashed out roadways andmade bridges impassible. Atrailer home in West Pittstonwas swept away, and nearby, aman was briefly trapped inthe roaring current.
The American Red Crossestablished emergency shel-ters at a dozen high schoolsand colleges from Wilkes-Barre to the Back Mountain.Inmates and community vol-unteers worked furiously tofill thousands of sand bags
placed along floodgates andin front of county offices.The Pennsylvania NationalGuard deployed hundreds oftroops to aid local authori-ties.
The evacuation orderaffected upwards of 75,000people, officials said.
By dusk, communitiesalong the river had becomeghost towns, populated onlyby emergency personnel,reporters and the curious.The utilities cut power tosome evacuated communities
and, as of 8:30 p.m., PPLreported 11,650 outages.
As the projected crestneared, county officialsimposed a curfew for dozensof communities along theriver. Officials said residentsmust remain off the roadsbetween 9 p.m. Thursday and6 a.m. Friday, and again forthe same time period Fridayinto Saturday.
Commissioner Stephen A.Urban underscored the seri-ousness of the flood threat ata briefing Thursday morning
where officials announcedthey had accelerated the evac-uation deadline by fourhours, to 4 p.m.
“We want people to heedour order and leave,” Urbansaid, his voice tinged withanxiety. “It’s significant. Wewant them to leave.”
“We want to protect lives,”Urban said.
U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Hazleton, visited the LuzerneCounty command centerThursday afternoon andpledged to push for a federal
disaster declaration thatwould allow flood-ravagedcommunities to qualify forfederal relief.
Barletta sent a letter toPresident Barack Obama onThursday urging him to grantGov. Tom Corbett’s request forfederal assistance.
“I remember Agnes verywell, and this has the poten-tial to be worse than Agnes,”Barletta said. “We got to keepour fingers crossed.”
SEE OUT, NEXT PAGE
EVACUATION // THOUSANDS HEAD FOR HIGHER GROUND
INDEX
Almanac 39
Advice 16
Birthdays 17
Business A5
Classifieds A9-B10
Comics 20-22
Editorial 14
Horoscope 16
National A1
Obituaries 24
Public Notices A9
Puzzles 21-22
Sports 28-40
Television 16
DAY NIGHT
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(ISSN 1070-8626) USPS 450-590The Citizens’ Voice is published daily by Times-Shamrock, 75 N. WashingtonSt., Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711. Periodicals postage is paid at Wilkes-Barre, PA.Postmaster: Send address changes to The Citizens’ Voice, 75 N. Washington St.,Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711. 1-year, Luzerne County, $130.
INSIDE TODAY’S VOICE
Economic boost
President Obama unveils $450Bplan to add jobs. Page 13
GHOST TOWNS
ON THE COVER: The Pierce Street Bridge as seen from theWater Street parking garage. (Kristen Mullen / The Citizens’ Voice)
CHARLES SCHILLINGER / TIMES-SHAMROCK
Today’s edition of TheCitizens’ Voice is beingdistributed free of chargeat evacuation centersthroughout Luzerne Countyas many of our readers andresidents deal with extremeflooding issues.
Our team of journalistsworked throughout theday and night from threeemergency commandcenters since our main officein downtown Wilkes-Barrefalls within the mandatoryevacuation order to bring youthis coverage. Reporters andphotographers in the field setup shops at the East MountainInn in Plains Township andwith the county EmergencyManagement Agency. A teamof editors and designersworked out of our sisternewspaper, The Times-Tribunein Scranton, to edit, organizeand design this edition.
We will continue to producethe newspaper away from ourhome office while under themandatory evacuation order. Ifyou have news tips or photosyou would like to share withus you can call 821-2056 oremail [email protected].
The news team iscontinously breaking newson the river conditionsand flooding online atcitizensvoice.com as well aswith our Facebook and Twitterfeeds.
Cloudy and warmer todaywith a shower or thunder-storm around. Winds west-northwest 3-6 mph.80 63
77 59
Average normal highs/lows for the week: 74/54: Clouds andsun, a couple of thunderstorms tomorrow afternoon. Winds north-northeast 4-8 mph. Thunderstorms possible Sunday. Windssouth-southeast 4-8 mph.
SSAATTUURRDDAAYY
Showers/t-storms
Last year: 67/56
73 58
SSUUNNDDAAYY
T-stormspossible
75/46
78 58
MM OONNDDAAYY
A t-stormpossible
62/57
82 57
TTUUEESSDDAAYY
Mostlysunny77/53
74 50
WWEEDDNNEESSDDAAYY
Sunshine;pleasant
72/48
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FROM PREVIOUS PAGE
The National WeatherService projected theSusquehanna River to crestearly Friday morning at 40.8feet — a fraction below thehigh-water mark set duringTropical Storm Agnes andinches from the top of thelevees that run along theriver in Wilkes-Barre and onthe West Side.
The river, swollen after aweek of rain produced bythe remnants of TropicalStorm Lee, could remain atnear crest levels for hours,according to a projectionreleased Thursday night.
The levees, overhauledand raised to 41 feet in thedecades since the Agnesflood, have never been testedby a flood of Thursday’smagnitude. They were hold-ing as of 8:30 p.m. Thursdaydespite several leaks. Pres-sure from the river caused agasket to burst on a flood-gate on the Market StreetBridge in Wilkes-Barre.Slight breaches were alsoreported on the bridge’sfloodgates in Kingston.
Residents near the leveein Kingston and Edwards-
ville scrambled to get house-hold items to higher groundbefore evacuating Thursday.Emergency vehicles droveup and down the streets,spreading the word of theevacuation order.
Mike Thurtson, 31, ofKingston, refused to go.
Thurston, who lives threeblocks from the river onMarket Street, said hebelieved the levee would
hold and that there was noreason to flee.
“When I see a wave comedown the street, I know it’stime to go,” Thurston said.“Put on your shoes and run.”
Larry Doughton, 71, ofSouth Thomas Street inKingston, thought back toAgnes as he moved his mostprized possessions to thesecond floor of his home.During the Agnes flooding,
Doughton said, river waternearly reached his attic.
“Who would think itwould happen again?”Doughton said.
Troops with the 109thField Artillery of the Penn-sylvania Army NationalGuard in Kingston spentThursday on a two-prongedmission: moving their mate-rial to the second floor oftheir armory and helping inthe evacuation.
The county requested 300troops to aid in the evacua-tion, Urban said.
By mid-afternoon, theNational Guard had estab-lished a staging area at theMohegan Sun Arena atCasey Plaza, Wilkes-BarreTownship.
The same cycle of movingpossessions and fleeing tohigher ground played out inWilkes-Barre. John Nargos-ki hurriedly packed thebelongings from his Rich-mont Avenue home intoplastic bags while his 77-year-old mother recalledhow Agnes turned the firstfloor of her Stark Streethome into something closerto “hell” than a home.
“It’s not too much fun,”John Nargoski said. “You’vegot a nice home. It’s tough.”
The mandatory evacua-tion attracted national atten-tion. Wilkes-Barre MayorTom Leighton appeared onCNN, and Jim Cantore ofThe Weather Channel plant-ed himself at the River Com-mon to report on the flood-ing. Anne Thompson of NBCNews led the network’sNightly News broadcast witha report from Forty Fort.
After surveying SolomonCreek in South Wilkes-Barre, Leighton returned tothe city’s command centerat the Coal Street Ice Rinkand ladled himself a cup ofwarm soup. Most residents,he said, listened to the callto leave their homes andseek shelter with family, athotels or at one of the twoshelters set up at localschools.
As of Thursday after-noon, Leighton said the cityhad not encountered anymajor issues save for expect-ed flooding by HollenbackPark.
“Hopefully come Satur-day,” Leighton said, “we’ll
hear some good news andtell the people it’s safe to goback into their homes.”
For hours Thursday, theP i e r c e S t r e e t B r i d g eremained the only linkbetween Wilkes-Barre andKingston. Sheriff ’s deputiesdrove and walked up anddown the span, continuouslychasing people who dared towalk across and gaze downat the rising murky waters.
“Everybody off the levee,off the bridge,” the deputiesshouted over a loudspeaker.
Luzerne County DetectiveChaz Balogh patrolled Wil-kes-Barre near dusk Thurs-day, chasing stragglers tohigher ground. He wouldgive those remaining behinduntil 8 p.m. to leave. Then,he said, they would facearrest.
“I can’t believe people arethat stupid,” Balogh said.
PATRICK SWEET, staff writer, con-tributed to this report.
Sharon Assuah and herson Richard hope to leave atemporary American RedCross shelter at GAR HighSchool as “soon as possi-ble.”
Their motivation isn’t justbecause they hope for lesssevere flooding along theSusquehanna River.
“I’m in my enemy’s terri-tory,” Richard said. “I’mfrom Meyers.”
The Assuahs, from CharlesStreet in South Wilkes-Barre,were just two of more than75,000 residents to evacuatetheir homes along the Susque-hanna River. GAR HighSchool opened its doorsThursday to many of itsrivals in South Wilkes-Barre.
The high school reachedits 356-person capacity at 3p.m. Thursday. Red Crossshelter Manager Tom Ben-son said the temporary shel-
ter at GAR will help dis-placed residents for as longas needed.
“We’re ready for whatev-er,” Benson said. “They’resaying 72 hours, 78 hours.Whatever. We’re here for thepeople.”
Benson and his Red Crossworkers began diverting dis-placed residents to Solo-mon/Plains Junior HighSchool when the GAR shel-ter reached capacity.
Only a few dozen dis-placed residents had arrived
at Solomon/Plains by 4 p.m.Thursday.
Margaret Bailoni, a PlainsTownship crime watchmember and a volunteer atthe shelter, expected Solo-mon/Plains to reach capaci-ty by Thursday evening.
Coughlin football playershelped prepare the tempo-rary shelter by setting upcots and carrying cases ofdrinks and food. Crusaderscoach Ciro Cinti said it wasa great chance for his play-ers to reach out in theircommunity. Bailoni and therest of the Plains Townshipcrime watch volunteersappreciated the help.
“It was really nice of themto do that,” Bailoni said.“And we have a lot of youngkids from the junior highschool coming in here andvolunteering their help. It’sreally great to see the youthdo this.”
Bill Yoh of Kingston wasjust 5 years old in 1972
when Hurricane Agnes hitthe Wyoming Valley, forc-ing his family to flee theirhome. Thursday afternoon,Yoh and his family werethe first evacuees to arriveat the Anderson Center atMisericordia University inDallas.
This time Yoh was joinedby his wife Margaret and 12-year-old daughter Madison.
“I don’t remember toomuch from the flood of ’72,”Bill Yoh said. “But I doremember evacuating withmy parents.”
Yoh still lives on PriceStreet, just a few doors downfrom his parents’ housewhere he grew up. His par-ents headed to stay withfriends while Yoh went tothe Misericordia shelter.
“We didn’t think it wouldbe as full here, so we decidedto come here,” Yoh said.
The scene was similar afew miles away at DallasMiddle School. Middle
school Principal ThomasDuffy was prepared to be atthe school Thursday to greetthe teachers for a back-to-school in-service. Instead,he waited for the arrival ofthe Red Cross staff at themakeshift shelter.
“We’re open and ready togo,” Duffy said. “Our parentsof the school have been bring-ing food over, and my phonekeeps ringing with people inthe community asking whatthey can do to help.”
Lake-Lehman High Schoolwas expecting a large num-ber of overnight guests inits gym. By late afternoon,the gym was transformedinto an evacuation area,lined neatly with 300 cots foradults and 100 more for chil-dren.
As of 4 p.m., only a fewevacuees had made theirway to Lake-Lehman.
River lays waste across areaBy Patrick SweetStaff Writer
W I L K E S - B A R R E —Rosanne Donahue loves theSusquehanna River, at leastwhen it stays in its place.
All day Thursday andthrough this mor ning,though, the river eclipsedits bounds and laid waste toareas all over Luzer neCounty and forced the evac-uation of thousands. At 7:30p.m., the river reached 38.79feet -- more than 16 feetabove the level when floodstage begins -- and projec-tions indicated the riverwould crest at 40.8 feetaround 2 a.m. today.
“I hope we have a fastcrest,” said Donahue, wholives on the flooded RiverStreet in the Port Blanchardarea, “and it goes down fast.”
Officials at the LuzerneCounty Emergency Manage-ment Agency on Thursdayclosely monitored the river atits Water Street building. JimBrozena, director of thecounty Flood ProtectionAuthority, said the leveewould hold the river up tobetween 41 and 43 feet.
During a midday update,the National Weather Servicesaid “the Wilkes-Barre area
is of great concern to us.”“In Wilkes-Barre, (the riv-
er) is just rocketing up,” aweather service official told apacked yet relatively quietroom of emergency respond-ers. “Wilkes-Barre has usconcerned in that area.”
From 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.Thursday, the Susquehannarose by an average of morethan 10 inches every hour,according to National Weath-er Service data.
As projections for the riv-er’s eventual crest began torise above 40 feet, countycommissioners remainedoptimistic the levees wouldwork and focused their atten-tion on evacuations early inthe day.
At more than 38 feet, low-lands around the countywere flooded and the riverwas inching its way upstreets in Wilkes-Barre. Pres-sure from the water broke agasket on the Market StreetBridge flood gates, allowingwater to stream in. CountyCommissioner Stephen A.Urban said the PennsylvaniaNational Guard and countyworkers were bringing inpumps and sandbagging theleaks.
“There’s no damage tothe wall.” Urban said. “It’s
just a gasket.”With the river roaring by,
many people were calling theEMA with false reports, send-
Wilkes-BarreLevel as of 5pm: 38.5’Flood stage: 22.0’Projected crest: 40.8’Record high: 40.9’June 24, 1972
TowandaLevel as of 4:30pm:29.7’Flood stage: 16.0’Projected crest: 30.8’Record high: 33.4’June 24, 1972
Tunkhannock*Level as of 5:15pm:13.4’Flood stage: 11.0’Projected crest: 13.7’Record high: 20.9’June 28, 2006*Tunkhannock Creek
MeshoppenLevel as of 4:45pm:44.4’Flood stage: 27.0’Projected crest: 44.4’Record high: 43.5’June 23, 1972
WYOMING
LUZERNE
BRADFORD
SUSQUEHANNASUSQUEHANNA
LACKAWANNALACKAWANNA
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KEVIN O’NEILL / STAFF ARTIST
SusquehannaRiver
SusquehannaRiver
SusquehannaRiver
Susquehanna River
Susquehanna River
Susquehanna River
Tunkhannock Creek
Tunkhannock Creek
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By Denis O’MalleyStaff Writer
Fresh off heading intoHurricane Irene last week,national TV weather person-ality Jim Cantore came toWilkes-Barre on Thursday toget a first-person taste of thesurging Susquehanna’s flood-waters.
“There’s really nobodywho got a break from this,”Cantore said during his 5p.m. broadcast on The Weath-er Channel from along thelevy walls in the area of theNorth Street Bridge in thecity.
Cantore announced hisday’s destination Thursdaymorning on his Twitteraccount, explaining that hewanted to see the “biggestevacuation and worst PAflood since Agnes.”
And that is what he gotwhen he arrived in the “ghosttown” Wilkes-Barre hadbecome by late Thursday.
Cantore interviewed Wil-liam Vinsko, assistant cityattorney, along the ragingriver to see how the city hadhandled evacuating areas athighest risk.
“People come first, build-ings second,” Vinsko said,explaining that some 20,000residents had been removedfrom their homes in the low-lying areas of the city.
Those areas were evacuat-ed by 4 p.m. Thursday, Vinskosaid, and may not be habit-able for three days, a lengthhe attributed to the city’saging and back-up-pronestorm drainage system.
The Susquehanna River can be seen from the fifth floor of the Guard Insurance Building in Wilkes-Barre on Thursday after-noon. At 7:30 p.m., the river reached 38.79 feet. Projections indicated the river would crest at 40.8 feet around 2 a.m. today.
Cantorelandsin W-B
Cantore
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EVACUATION // WILKES-BARRE RESIDENTS TAKE SHELTER
By Andrew StaubStaff Writer
WILKES-BARRE – As theSusquehanna River creptsteadily higher Thursdayafternoon, Fred Zomer andhis son Nikita walked alongthe levee protecting South Wil-kes-Barre on their way to helpfill sandbags farther south.
“This baby is rising fast,”Fred Zomer said.
Below the Zomers, up to20,000 city residents packedtheir belongings into whatev-er bags they had, lugged furni-ture onto moving trucks andfled for emergency shelters orhigher ground as the riverthreatened to swell to morethan 40 feet, close to the high-est level the levee walls cansupport.
The threat of flooding thatcould rival that of the disas-trous 1972 Tropical StormAgnes more than convincedeven the most flood-hardenedof residents living near theriver or close to the unpredict-able creeks to heed an order toleave their homes.
One of those residents,Nancy Nargoski, turned 77 on
Thursday and recalled howfloodwaters from Agnes filledthe first floor of her StarkStreet home and left her fami-ly living in a trailer for almosta year. As her son packed hisfamily’s belongings into plas-tic bags on Richmont Avenueon Thursday, Nargoskicouldn’t help but think “notagain,” she said.
“They always said it wouldcome every 100 years,” Nar-goski said of the disastrousflooding from Agnes. “Well, itcame a lot sooner than 100years.”
Wilkes-Barre Mayor TomLeighton ordered the manda-tory evacuation of homes inthe city’s flood zones at 9 a.m.Thursday, telling residents to
pack clothing, food and pre-scription medicine in casethey were displaced for asmany as three days. Theaffected areas included neigh-borhoods near the river,around the Brookside leveesystem and by Solomon, Lau-ren Run and Mill creeks.
City emergency personneland National Guardsmen
spent the morning and after-noon informing residents inthe flood zone of the evacua-tion.
Forty-five minutes beforethe evacuation deadline, theymade a final sweep of theneighborhoods to urge strag-glers to hurry or face possibledisaster.
“This evacuation has beenorderedforyoursafetyforthatof your loved ones and yourhomes,” Leighton said as headdressed the city on live tele-vision Thursday morning.“We are a strong community.We are resilient. We will comeback and we’ll endure thisstorm.”
By 3 p.m., more than 350people packed an emergencyshelter at GAR High School inthe Heights section of the city,forcing officials to divert oth-ers seeking refuge to Solo-mon/Plains Junior HighSchool in Plains Township.
Leighton also moved thecity’s command center fromCity Hall to the Coal Street IceRink, where it could remainfor days.
On Regent Street, JenniferOakley and her father Frank
Oakley searched in vain for ahotel that would accommo-date their three dogs. Theyhad already moved Jennifer’smother’s collection of Elvismemorabilia to upper floorsfrom the basement. She diedlast year, and Jennifer Oakleyand her 7-year-old son, John,said they were worried aboutlosing the precious remindersof their mother and grand-mother.
“We don’t like to lose mem-ories of Nana,” John Oakleysaid.
As the river swelled, cityofficials grew increasinglyworried about the waterwaysin the city, especially SolomonCreekneartheOakley’shome.Pumpstationsthatpushwaterinto the river from the creekseventually shut off when theriver level rises, which cancause creeks to back up, saidDrew McLaughlin, the city’sspokesman.
Areas near HollenbackPark were submerged byThursday afternoon, thoughLeighton expected such flood-ing, he said.
W I L K E S - B A R R E —Samantha Genna moved intoher Wilkes University dormi-tory just two weeks ago.
The freshman nursing stu-dent moved out of her roomThursday morning with thewaters of the SusquehannaRiver rapidly rising.
Wilkes-Barre officialsordered a mandatory evacua-tion for parts of the city by 4p.m. Thursday. The evacua-tion locations included thecampuses of Wilkes Univer-sity and King’s College,which first alerted studentsabout the evacuations earlyThursday morning.
On a normal weekdaymorning, the Wilkes campusis bustling with studentswalking between classes. By11 a.m. Thursday, the campuswas nearly empty with just afew stragglers moving their
belongings out of dorms andapartments.
Genna, from Swiftwater,came to the River Commonsat West Northampton andSouth River streets to get onefinal look at the Susquehan-na River around 11 a.m.
“I was here last night andyou were able to see every-thing,” Genna said. “Now,you can’t see anything. Even
the whole sidewalk is underwater.”
The majority of studentswere able to leave the areabefore the Susquehannacrested early Friday morn-ing. But a few students elect-ed to stay in the WyomingValley through the weekend.Wilkes sent about 60 studentsto stay at the University ofScranton for the weekend.
About 25 King’s studentsand 35 residence life person-nel congregated Fridayafternoon at Scandlon Gym-nasium before heading toHeights Elementary School.
King’s students will be theonly displaced people atHeights Elementary, andresidence life staf fersbrought along board games,footballs, basketball and gui-tars to pass the time.
Peter Janssen, a sopho-more English writing major,had to stick around thisweekend.
His parents, from Somer-set, N.J., couldn’t pick himup in time to leave the areabefore the 4 p.m. evacuationdeadline.
“You’re with your friendsif they haven’t left alreadyand (King’s) is a nice play tobe,” Janssen said. “Ofcourse, you can’t do any-thing for the next four daysand you have to be some-
where else. But it could beworse.”
King’s junior Dan Quinnmade last-minute arrange-ments to be picked up by afriend at Bucknell University.
Quinn, a criminal justicemajor from Upper Darby,didn’t want to stay in theelementary school for thewhole weekend. He wishedKing’s could have given stu-dents more advanced warn-ing so students withoutve h i c l e s c o u l d m a k earrangements.
“My friend saved me. Iwas scrambling for awhile,”Quinn said. “I thought I wasgoing to be stuck here forthe night. Thank god I avoid-ed that.”
King’s and Wilkes post-poned or cancelled all sport-ing events through the week-end, including two footballgames.
The Monarchs were set toplay Bethany College in
West Virginia and the Colo-nels were set to play Waynes-burg in Southwest Pennsyl-vania. The teams will lookto reschedule the games atthe end of the season butneither school seemed tooptimistic that they’ll beable to make up the games.
Wilkes freshman KenzieTeno and the rest of the Col-onels field hockey team stillgot an indoor practice in at6:30 a.m. Thursday.
Teno, a freshman phar-macy major, also made a tripto the River Commons tocapture a few photos of theSusquehanna on Thursdaymorning. In just two weeks,the freshman has beenthrough Hurricane Ireneand Susquehanna Riverflooding.
“Irene was nothing com-pared to how bad the river isflooded now,” Teno said.
EVACUATION // IN PICTURES: FLOODING ACROSS LUZERNE COUNTY
PLAINS TOWNSHIP: Residents of Plainsville can only watch the flood fromCourtright Street as their homes are inundated.
PLAINS TOWNSHIP: A resident of CourtrightStreet in Plains struggles around her house.
DAVE SCHERBENCO / THE CITIZENS’ VOICE
WILKES-BARRE: Luzerne County EmergencyManagement Agency Director Steve Bekanich,left, and Executive Director of the Flood Pro-tection Authority Jim Brozena make plans atthe Luzerne County EMA building.
KRISTEN MULLEN / THE CITIZENS’ VOICE MICHAEL R. SISAK / THE CITIZENS’ VOICE
WILKES-BARRE:Geoffrey Hodleloads up a stoveas he evacuatesfrom 224 NewMallery Place.
MARK MORAN / THE CITIZENS’ VOICE
WILKES-BARRE: American Red Cross volunteerGloria Banks, of Scranton, serves food to Wilkes-Barre evacuees Kenneth Lee, left, and EdwardRehill at the GAR High School shelter location.
KRISTEN MULLEN / THE CITIZENS’ VOICE
DAVE SCHERBENCO / THE CITIZENS’ VOICE
PITTSTON:The curious,like this manwalking on therail road tracks,were out Thurs-day in the PortBlanchard area.A mandatoryevacuation wasordered aheadof a projectednear-recordcrest of theSusquehannaRiver.
WEST PITTSTON: Water makesits way up Luzerne Avenue.
RALPH FRANCELLO / THE CITIZENS’ VOICE
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EVACUATION // CASE OF DEJA VU
By Elizabeth SkrapitsStaff Writer
PLYMOUTH TWP. — Residents of the township have beenflooded so often they know the drill when the SusquehannaRiver starts to rise.
But Thursday’s flooding, the worst since Tropical StormAgnes in June 1972, took even flood veterans by surprise.People watched anxiously to see whether the river wouldreach its predicted crest of 40.8 feet.
“We don’t know. We’re like everyone else, watching to see,”firefighter Thomas Deretchin said at the municipal building,which had been turned into an emergency firehouse sincethe Plymouth Township Volunteer Fire Co. on East PoplarStreet was evacuated. “God only knows if the dike’s going tohold. Everybody’s crossing their fingers.”
By 4 p.m., many homes on U.S. Route 11, and Allen, Eastand West Poplar and Canal streets had water up to their firstfloor. Plymouth Township Emergency Management Coordi-nator Robert Dunn —whose own home on Allen Street wasflooded — said the water was 7 and 8 feet high in places.
Leonard Stadts, who lives on Route 11 in the West Nanti-coke section, put on his fishing waders to evacuate when thewater reached his doorstep around 4 p.m. The last time thewater reached his house was during the Agnes flood, hesaid.
“I just hope it doesn’t reach the first floor,” Stadts said.But he was able to look at the bright side: “Hey, I don’t have
to water my tomato plants this week,” he joked, adding, “I’llbe back after it crests.”
Supervisor Chairwoman Gale Conrad and her husbandMark towed their rowboat up a makeshift road over Avon-dale Hill to get a better view of the carnage in West Nanti-coke. They launched the boat at Route 11 a few hundred yardsfrom the state Route 29 intersection.
On U.S. Route 11 at East Poplar Street, cars were sub-merged to their roofs, propane tanks floated around the flood-ed PSC gas station and an assortment of peoples’ belongingsranging from a mop and bucket to children’s pool toys bobbedalong on the dirty water.
The sign for the Calvary United Methodist Church wasnearly underwater. A car, lifted by the flood water, floatednear the door of the Shell gas station. A strong smell of petro-leum permeated the air.
Megan Zywotek watched the flood creep up Route 11 nearthe township building, knowing it couldn’t rise high enoughto reach her house on the hill just up the road.
“It’s fun. My kids love it,” she said.Her daughter Savana Gwynn, 11, agreed, watching as a
Pennsylvania National Guard vehicle tried to plow acrossthe flooded road but had to turn back because it was toodeep.
“It’s kind of fun to see cars and trucks drive through it, butit’s kind of gross because rats and snakes are swimmingaround in the water,” she said.
Conrad said she had requested state Sen. John Yudichak,D-Nanticoke, send in National Guard troops to deter lootingand ensure people didn’t enter closed roads.
“It’s Agnes all over again,” resident Ed Long said, watch-ing the muddy water make its way up the pavement.
It was the first flood Long hadn’t had to worry about: hishome on Route 11 was bought out and demolished throughthe Federal Emergency Management Agency’s flood mitiga-tion program, and he moved to higher ground in the town-ship.
“It gets to the point where enough’s enough,” Long said.
Exeter
The borough started to build a 450-foot long levee with dirtalong Susquehanna Avenue around 9:30 a.m. Thursday,Council President Rich Murawski said.
Homes on the river side of the Susquehanna Avenue wereevacuated.
Murawski said the dirt dike was going to protect homes onthe other side of the street. A dirt dike in 2006 helped stop theriver from crossing the street.
“I got to give them credit for trying,” Bryon Baldygo said,watching work on the dirt dike from his home.
Baldygo said it took 90 minutes Thursday morning to gethome from work at FedEx in Jenkins Township. It usually isa five-minute drive across the bridge to West Pittston, butthat bridge was closed. He said he encountered bumper-to-
bumper traffic on the Cross Valley Expressway.Around 3 p.m., Darlene Swithers was planning to flee her
home on the river-side of the road. The river was approach-ing the back of her house.
“I am ready to have a heart attack,” she said.Swithers said she bought her home 15 years ago. She said
her home was not damaged by the 1972 Agnes flood.Earlier Thursday, Carmen Mauriello and Andrew Schutz
got in a row boat to save about six chickens at Frank’s Pro-duce on the river-side of Susquehanna Avenue.
Forty Fort
Dozens of people around 2:30 p.m. were looking at theSusquehanna River along the levee by River Street.
“I think we are going to be fine,” Paul Congdon said, sur-veying the river.
A borough police officer told the crowd to get off the levee.“We are not going to save you,” an officer in a vehicle said
to the crowd.Police Officer David McDermott said traffic on River Street
WEST NANTICOKE: Water surrounds a gasservice station on East Poplar Street. PlymouthTownship Emergency Management Agency Co-ordinator Robert Dunn says the water is up to7 to 8 feet in some spots due to flooding.
ELIZABETH SKRAPITS / THE CITIZENS’ VOICE
PLAINS TOWNSHIP: Harry Thomas, of Plains-ville, steadies a pontoon boat on CourtrightStreet as flood waters rise.
DAVE SCHERBENCO / THE CITIZENS’ VOICE
WEST PITTSTON: Joe Newhart moves belong-ings from his Insurance Agency on WyomingAvenue in West Pittston.
RALPH FRANCELLO / THE CITIZENS’ VOICE
SEE RESIDENTS, PAGE 26
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EVACUATION // ANXIOUS MOMENTS FOR DOWNTOWN BUSINESSES
Business owners make mad dash out of downtownBy Denise AllabaughStaff Writer
Anxiety filled downtownWilkes-Barre on Thursdaymorning as news broke thatthe Susquehanna River wasexpected to rise to exceed 40feet. Business owners hur-ried to pack up and prepareto close early and evacuate.
Workers at Rodano’s onPublic Square spent a por-tion of the morning haulingaway liquor and food in antic-ipation of major downtownflooding. It was a similarscene throughout downtownWilkes-Barre at businesses,which coped with closures,lost revenue and panic aboutwhat lies ahead.
“We will probably loseeverything,” said Alex Patel,an employee at Matus NewsStand on Public Square as heprepared to close at 2 p.m.
Ann Marie Bossard, co-owner of Anthracite News-
stand, remembers when rag-ing waters from the AgnesFlood of 1972 rose to the top ofthe front door of her businessand they lost almost every-thing. She said she wasn’t tak-ing any chances this time. She
and her family and friendspacked up everything theycould before they evacuatedThursday afternoon.
“I don’t want to go throughanother one,” Bossard said.“I’m taking the cash regis-ters. I’m trying to take one ofthe lottery machines withme. I’m trying to take every-thing I possibly can. I’m tak-ing the coolers. I’m taking thecigarettes. I’m going to stayhere until they blow thewhistle. I’m going to keep onworking until I get every-
thing out of here.”Mark Bronsburg, owner of
Mimmo’s Pizza on PublicSquare, was busy Thursdaymorning preparing to closeat 1 p.m.
“My wife and I are tryingto take as much as we can,”Bronsburg said. “We aregoing to see what we can take
and we are going to put therest in the walk-in and ducttape it. I could get 48 hoursout of it. If it’s longer thanthat, I’ll lose everything.”
Business already has beentough and the early closureand possibility of being closedfor an extended time reallywill take a toll, he said. Sincehe had to close early Thursdayand will be closed Friday andlikely the weekend, he expectshe will lose at least $3,000.
SEE NEXT PAGE
‘I’m going to stay here until they blow thewhistle. I’m going to keep on working until I
get everything out of here.’ANN MARIE BOSSARD
Anthracite Newsstand co-owner
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FROM PREVIOUS PAGEPatti Watkins, an employee
at Curry Donuts on PublicSquare, closed the business atnoon and got ready to moveher 80-year-old mother out ofWilkes-Barre to Pittston.
“I’m nervous right now,”Watkins said.
Dunkin’ Donuts in down-town Wilkes-Barre shut down
atnoon.Priorof that,employ-ees also were busy movingitems.
“We’re trying to get every-one out safely,” said MikeDavis, shift leader. “There is a
lot of anxiety because no oneknows what’s going to hap-pen.”
Meanwhile, business wasexceptionally high at a num-ber of businesses outside the
flood zone such as gas sta-tions, grocery stores andhotels.
Schiel’s Family Market inWilkes-Barre was very busyuntil it closed at noon, owner
Frank Schiel said.At the East Mountain Inn
in Plains Township, all 152rooms were filled as of 6 a.m.,said Andy Roke, front deskclerk. All 150 rooms also were
filled at the Woodlands Innand Resort in Plains Town-ship, said operator LorraineGeorge.
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EVACUATION // GOVERNOR MOBILIZES TROOPS
By Robert SwiftStaff Writer
HARRISBURG — Some1,200 Pennsylvania NationalGuard troops are being mobi-
lized to dealw i t h l i f e -threateningflooding alongthe Susque-hanna River,and 400 ofthem are com-mitted to helpwith the man-datory evacu-
ations of thousands of resi-dents in Wilkes-Barre, Gov.Tom Corbett and state emer-
gency officials said Thurs-day.
The governor said theflood threat is expected to bethe greatest Thursday nightin Wilkes-Barre as theSusquehanna River flowsthrough a narrow channel inthe Wyoming Valley, whilecities downstream fromBloomsburg to Harrisburgcan expect to experience theimpact of record crests in thedays ahead.
“We have National Guardtroops going in to help Wil-kes-Barre,” added Corbett.“They will help with theevacuation and provide secu-rity.”
Wilkes-Barre Mayor TomLeighton and Maj, Gen. Wes-ley Craig, the state adjutantgeneral, will determine theexact role that the NationalGuard will play to help resi-dents, he said.
Meanwhile, the stateHealth Department is estab-lishing a mobile hospital onthe west side of the Susque-hanna River across from Wil-kes-Barre. A mobile hospitalis needed because the city’smain hospitals are on theeast side of the river, there-fore making travel difficult,
Corbett said. Corbett alsosaid he’s received informa-tion that Marcellus Shale gasfirms have stopped drillingoperations in the vicinity ofoverflowing rivers in North-eastern Pennsylvania toavoid spills in wastewaterimpoundments.
Pointing to an aerial photoof the Wyoming Valley, Cor-bett spoke of the challengesfacing state and local officialswith a river flood rivalingthat of Tropical Storm Agnesin 1972.The attention of stateofficials is also focused on
Bradford County whereemergency access and travelis difficult because of manyflooded roads.
This proved a problemwith the successful evacua-tion of some 100 elderly resi-dents from the Ashton HealthCare home in Troy, saidGlenn Cannon, director ofthe Pennsylvania EmergencyManagement Agency.
A Swift Water Rescue Craftteam from southwesternPennsylvania assisted withthe home’s evacuation, Can-non said.
Elsewhere, state officialshave evacuated 266 residentsfrom Wernersville State Hos-pital in Wernersville, BerksCounty, due to a flood threatand sent them to other statehospitals, officials said.
“We face a clear publichealth emergency,” said Cor-bett, referring to the floodingof municipal sewage treat-ment plants.
Flooding has led to theclosing of Interstate 81 southof Pine Grove due to the roadsubbase being washed out,he added.
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Red Crossflying inworkersBy Denis J. O’MalleyStaff Writer
The American Red Crossis sending a team of employ-ees from its headquarters inWashington, D.C., to set up acommand post for NortheastPennsylvania for the nextthree weeks.
Kristen L. Polidori, direc-tor of community relationsfor the American Red Crossof Lackawanna County, saidthe Red Cross is scoutinglocations of at least 25,000square feet in LackawannaCounty to use as a centralcommand center to coordi-nate and provide for the myr-iad evacuation shelters open-ing across the region in thewake of today’s massiveflooding.
The team — the size ofwhich Polidori was not awareof — will be arriving fromWashington from todaythrough the weekend andwill take over all operationsrelated to disaster manage-ment and the organization ofshelters.
“They’re going to takeover,” Polidori said. “We needtheir help and their supportat this point.”
Local Red Cross workersare currently scouting loca-tions for a temporary com-mand center in LackawannaCounty — which has beenspared serious flooding — torelocate their current com-mand center in Wilkes-Barre, Polidori said. Offi-cials are expected to pick asite in Lackawanna Countytoday. The American RedCross is expected to pick aLackawanna County sitetoday.
Running shelters, arrang-ing shipments of food andsupplies, recruiting of andperforming backgroundchecks on new volunteerswill all be performed fromthe command center in Lack-awanna County over the nextthree weeks, Polidori said.
“It takes a lot to put some-thing like this together,” Poli-dori said.
Rising flood waters closedroads throughout LuzerneCounty on Thursday, slowingevacuations and forcing resi-dents to find alternativeroutes to safety.
The Pierce Street bridge,which stayed open most ofthe day as the Susquehannaswelled beneath it, closed atabout 4 p.m., according toKingston police. Other spanscrossing the river, includingthe Market Street bridge and
the Water Street, Fort Jen-kins and Eighth Street bridg-es, closed Thursday morn-ing.
State Department ofTransportation spokesmanMichael Taluto said heexpects road closures to con-tinue as water continues torise. Closures will be in effectas long as water levels remain
high. Motorists should findalternate routes whereverpossible and avoid travelingthrough standing water onroads, he said.
AccuWeather meteorolo-gist Alex Sosnowski warnedthat trying to ford seeminglyshallow water in a motorvehicle can be dangerous.
“Even 6 inches to a foot ofwater has tremendous force,”he said.
Water also prevents driv-ers from seeing if a roadwayis compromised. Potholesand sinkholes develop as the
weight of the water washesaway soil and sediment.
“Anytime you have rainand traffic, you’re going tohave potholes,” he said.
The rapid rise of watercaused by heavy rainfall,known as flash flooding, willcontinue to compromiseroadways, especially thosealong smaller streams, Sos-nowski said. Downpoursexpected throughout theweekend will have little effecton large rivers, but can bringsmall streams up to flood lev-el very quickly.
“We still run the risk ofsome nasty downpours intothe weekend,” he said. “Theywill become more isolated innature, but the threat willcontinue.”
Saturation of the grounddue to several days of rain isplaying a role as well. Lakesand reservoirs are at capaci-ty, and anything water thatfalls on the ground is justgoing to run off, Sosnowskisaid.
“It’s not being absorbedanymore, it’s just runningoff.”
ROBERT BAKER / TIMES-SHAMROCK
Two people walk by Gay’s True Value in Tunkhannock. The landmark storegained 2-3 feet of water in just four hours in this image taken at noon, witha bucket loader of emergency rescue helpers from Triton Hose Co. movingacross Bridge Street.
FOR A FULL LIST of roadclosures in LuzerneCounty, see PAGE 27.
CLOSED ROADS
In Wyoming County, theSusquehanna River atMeshoppen stood at 44.42feet at 5:30 p.m., the highestlevel ever recorded. Duringthe Agnes flood in 1972, theriver crested at 43.51 feet.
Commissioner AnthonyLitwin said flooding was soprevalent throughout thecounty that it would be dif-ficult to say any one areawas hit harder than anoth-er.
“The worst of the flood-ing is anywhere along theriver,” Litwin said. “FromLaceyville to Falls, it’s pret-ty much all the same. ...There were places that hadnever flooded before thatwere hit pretty hard.”
The county EmergencyManagement Agency didnot have an estimate of thenumber of people displaced,but Litwin said it was easilyseveral hundred. No inju-ries were reported.
In Tunkhannock, bucketloaders were used to evacu-ate about 30 residents fromTioga Terrace apartmentsafter they were isolated byflooding from Swale Brook.Riding in the buckets ingroups of three to six, theevacuees were fer riedacross a broad expanse ofwater on McCord and Sec-ond streets to waitingschool buses.
In Laceyville, at least oneman had to be rescued fromthe roof of his home byhelicopter, Litwin said.
The American Red Cross
was housing between 140and 150 people at shelters atTunkhannock Area HighS c h o o l , Wa l m a r t i nTunkhannock and theEmanon Country Club inFalls, said Stephen McHen-ry, director of the Susque-hanna and Wyoming Coun-ties chapter.
He said about half ofthose were at the highschool, where many of theevacuees from Tioga Ter-race were taken.
“It’s a fluid number,”McHenry said.
Jan Kaskey, spokeswom-an for the East Central TaskForce Incident Manage-ment Team, which wasassisting the county EMA,said there were road clo-sures “too numerous tomention,” including sec-tions of Route 6.
The county instituted atravel ban Thursday morn-ing, prohibiting all butemergency and essentialtraffic, she said. The intentis to keep the road clear foremergency responders.
“The most significant
issue is the road closuresand trying to get people tostay off the road,” Ms. Kas-key said. “We are urging allresidents to stay put if theycan.”
Litwin asked for patienceand cooperation, saying thecounty faces a long andslow recovery.
“It’s going to take a whileto clear these roads andbridges and get people backin their homes,” he said.
Borough residents ralliedaround the renovated Diet-rich Theater on East Tioga
Street, which two years agoopened a $2 million expan-sion to the public.
B r o w n f l o o d w a t e r spoured into the new sectionThursday, and the theaterdoes not have flood insur-ance, executive directorHildy Morgan said.
“It’s the whole new sec-tion... the children’s room,the concession, the twowhole new theaters,” shesaid. “It’s just overwhelm-ing.”
Susquehanna County
Emergency managementofficials said no one wasinjured, but tentatively esti-mated 50 to 100 homes andbusinesses were affected byflooding. They reported“major damage” in Hallsteadand Great Bend boroughsand were anxiously awaitingthe Susquehanna River’screst.
The nearest river gaugesto the Susquehanna Riverwhere it flows in northernSusquehanna County are atWindsor, N.Y., and Conklin,N.Y., both southeast of Bing-hamton.
At Windsor, where majorflooding begins at 20.5 feet,the river was at more than 24feet by mid-afternoon with apredicted crest of 26 feet at 8a.m. today.
At Conklin, where majorflooding begins at 20 feet,the river had crossed 23.9feet on the way to a forecastcrest of 25 feet at 2 a.m.today.
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EVACUATION // CASE OF DEJA VU
FROM PAGE 7“It was a standstill,” he said, adding the vehicles were try-
ing to get on the Cross Valley Expressway.
Hanover Township
Four-year-old Dakota Telencho was the first to hear thesirens.
Telencho spread the news of the approaching water toher awakening family members yesterday morning as thefire trucks sounded their first warnings to evacuate.
“She said, ‘We have to get out now!’” her grandmother,Mary Mallery, recalled.
Later that morning, Telencho and her aunt Ashlee Mal-lery looked down at the muddy water streaming less than10 feet from the top of the dike behind their family’s homeon Norwood Avenue. Rising waters have threatened herfamily’s home in the Iona Place section of Hanover Town-ship three times in the two decades, Mallery said.
“I think this time it’s going to be worse, because we stillhave a long way to go,” the 21-year-old said.
The first challenge came as the family moved memora-bilia and other collectibles from the bottom floor of theirsplit-level home.
Second was finding a vacant hotel that allowed pets. Andwhile the family waits to see if their home will be spared,they will also contend with few open stores to buy food andother necessities.
“Walmart is closed. That’s when you know it’s bad,” Mal-lery said.
“When it’s the whole valley, where are we supposed togo?”
Down the street, Nancy and James Chafin prepared toface their first flooding threat since moving into theirhouse last November.
Nancy Chafin said her biggest concern was making sureher three children -- ages 3, 6 and 12 -- were safely out ofrange with friends in the Poconos. While her sons were
excited to spend a few days playing video games, her 3-year-old daughter was nervous about being away from her par-ents -- and worried about her goldfish.
“I wanted to make sure they’re safe and happy,” she said.“They’re irreplaceable.”
Hanover Township Manager John Sipper said a goodportion of the township lies in the 1972 floodplain. Part ofthe San Souci Parkway near Dundee Gardens remainedclosed, but no other roads were flooded as of Thursdayafternoon.
Township supervisors declared a state of emergencyearly Thursday morning. Police and fire personnel wereexpected to monitor the situation all night, he said.
As far as preparedness goes, “we’re in pretty goodshape,” Sipper said.
Kingston
About 2 p.m. Thursday, Bob Chopick Sr. and his four sonswere loading computers and computer equipment from theirWyoming Avenue store, Custom Computers, onto a 14-foot-longU-Haul truck.
Chopick said he expected the levee system would prevent hisstore from flooding but didn’t want to risk having equipmentdamaged, especially property of his customers.
“I would rather move the stuff and it not happen, than notmove it and it happen,” Chopick said. “We moved about 80 ofeverything in here. We have a responsibility to our custom-ers.”
Chopick has been moving the equipment to the garage of hisTrucksville home.
At 2 p.m., George Tsioles was working at the Currys Donutson Wyoming Avenue. The Trucksville resident said he wasclosing the store at 4 p.m.
He said business was busier than usual, with about 20 cus-tomers in the store from noon to 2 p.m.
“They were mostly saying ‘don’t get wet’ and joking aboutit,” Tsioles said.
West Pittston
Around 4 p.m. Thursday, hundreds of people were walkingaround the borough to see the rising river. Homes and yardsalong Second Avenue were covered with water.
The Pennsylvania Army National Guard armory wasflooded, and several armory vehicles were parked along a drystretch of Second Avenue. Some residents were busy evacu-ating and moving pieces of furniture onto trucks.
Wyoming
Mayor Bob Boyer said the recently opened Eighth StreetBridge was closed to traffic at 11 a.m. Thursday. A few hourslater, pedestrians were prohibited from going on the bridge.During the afternoon, dozens of onlookers were walking tothe edge of the bridge to see the rising river.
“We’re holding our breath,” Boyer said, adding he wasconcerned that the old Eight Street Bridge, part of which isstill remains next to the new bridge, would be damaged bythe river.
About 50 homes were evacuated, Boyer said. Boroughpolice also helped escort a few airplanes on Wyoming Avenuethat were being evacuated from the Wyoming Valley Airport.
MICHAEL P. BUFFER and KRISTEN GAYDOS, staff writers, contributed tothis report.
Residents: Eighth Street bridgein West Pittston closed to traffic
PITTSTON: Jim Verdekalshows his boat he sayshe used in the AgnesFlood of ’72 and will letanyone who needs it bor-row it along Main Street.
KRISTEN MULLEN / THE CITIZENS’ VOICE
Water completely covers the docks at HarveysLake on Thursday.
JILL SNOWDON / THE CITIZENS’ VOICE
WILKES-BARRE: People view the swollen Susquehanna River as they walk across the PierceStreet Bridge.
KRISTEN MULLEN / THE CITIZENS’ VOICE
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THE MUNICIPALITY OFKINGSTON announced therewill be no garbage collec-tion, recycling or yard wastepickup in the Municipality ofKingston until futher notice.The Kingston Municipal
Building and RecreationCenter will be closed untilthe mandatory evacuation islifted. All residents and busi-ness owners are urged tostay out of the communityuntil the evacuation order is
lifted. All emergency callsare to be directed to 9-1-1.All non-emergency calls areto be directed to 288-3674.Anyone needing assistancewith evacuating should call287-0770 or 287-0913.
EVACUATION // ROAD CLOSURES
As of Thursday night, LuzerneCounty 911 and PennDOTreported the following street clos-ings in Luzerne County:
Butler Township: SaamsRoad, Nesco Manor Road,Browns Grove Road, 86 HoneyHole Road, Sleepy Hollow Roadat the bridge
Conyngham: Butler Avenue,Conyngham Drums Road atFredericks Pond, Main Street andSugarloaf Avenue, State Route239 in both directions betweenState Route 3036/80 in Nesco-peck and US 11
Dallas Township: MatchelAvenue between North andPinecrest Avenue, 309 at KunkleFire Hall, Sedler Road Bridge
Duryea: Main Street bothdirections between PhoenixStreet and Stephenson Street
Edwardsville: Route 11 fromChestnut Street to Edwardsville
Exeter: Lehigh and Anthracitestreets
Exeter Township: Route 92— Sutton Creek
Fairmount Township:
Bethel Hill Road in both direc-tions between Mossville Roadand Johnson/ Talcott Hill Road,Pocket Road, Pine Creek Road,Comstalk Road, Mossville Roadin both directions at the intersec-tion of Bethel Hill Road to StateRoute 118; Old Tioga Turnpike,Church Road, Talcott Hill, ShedyHill
Forty Fort: Shoemaker Streetbetween Wyoming Avenue andMurray Street
Hanover Township: SansSouci Parkway between HanoverMall entrance and Dundee Road;State Route 309 single lanerestriction between Pine RunRoad and Lehigh Street; MainStreet/ Sans Souci Parkwaybetween Kosciuszko Ave/ JefkinStreet in Nanticoke and TrailerPark Road in Hanover; AshleyStreet/ St. Mary’s Road in bothdirections between West Cem-etery Street in Ashley and MainStreet
Harveys Lake: Halowich Road,Ridge Avenue, State Route 415
in both directions between LakeDrive and Route 29 in Noxen;Hillside Drive
Hollenback Township:
Hobbie Road in both directionsbetween Miner Street in Nesco-peck and Church/St. Mary’s Road
Hunlock Creek: Main Road/Hunlock-Harveyville Road in bothdirections between SorbertownHill Road and Hartmen Road
Huntington Township: DaroRoad, Edwards Road, HubbardsFlats, Ft. Orkowski Road
Hazle Township: State Route924, one lane open betweenthe road to Eagle Rock Lodgein Schuylkill County and ScotchPine Drive in Hazle Township.
Jackson Township: SmithPond Road, Hill Side Dam toChase Road, Route 29 at Hart-man Road, Route 29 from ChaseRoad to Route 11, Ridge Avenueat Hillside Road
Jenkins Township: MainStreet at Quiet Cove; RiverStreet, Main Street and CareyAvenue between Carey Street inPlains and Thompson Street
Kingston: WestmorelandAvenue and Lanthrop Street,Ross Street, Schuyler Avenuebetween Pringle and Hoyt, Mar-ket Street between Route 11and River Street/Market Street inWilkes-Barre
Kingston Township: ChurchRoad at the Wyoming border,Green Road, Dug Road past Car-verton; Manor Drive, Dug Roadand North Street between High-land Avenue and Mapleleaf Road
Laflin: Laflin Road
Lake Township: Zosh Road,Troxel Switch Road, LoyalvilleOutlet (School House andChurch), Route 29 at Piatt Farm(north of 118), Lamoreaux Road,Meeker Outlet Road by thebridge
Lehman Township: StateRoute 29 at Fedor, FirehouseRoad, Swamp Road, TrojanRoad, State Route 29 in bothdirections between U.S. 11 Northand Hartman Road
Nanticoke: Main Street/Sans
Souci Parkway between the inter-section of Trailer Park Road inHanover and Market Street/MainStreet; Main Street/Sans SouciParkway at the intersections ofDundee Road in Hanover to Mar-ket Street/Main Street
Nescopeck Borough: StateRoute 339 both directionsbetween Smith Hollow Roadin Mifflin and Broad Streetin Nescopeck; State Route239 both directions betweenState Route 3036/80, US11 in Conygham, HobbieRoad between Mine Streetand Church/ St. Mary Roadin Hollenback, Broad Street/Black Street closed betweenWest Zenith and Broad Street,River Road, Nescopeck Ber-wick Bridge one lane closed;State Route 93 both directionsbetween Miner Street andBroad Street
Newport Township: AldenMountain Road; Main Street/Newport Street/ Kirmar Ave inboth directions between MainStreet/ Pond Hill Road in Conyn-gham and Gruver Street/ AldenMountain Road
Noxen: State Route 415 inboth directions between LakeDrive in Harveys Lake and StateRoute 29
Pittston: Fort Jenkins Bridge,Water Street Bridge; ColumbusAvenue/Oak Street/Tedrick Streetin both directions; Main Street/Maffett Street in both directionsbetween James Musto BP in Jen-kins and Tedrick Street/YatesvilleRoad
Pittston Township: Oak Street
Plains Township: River
Street, Hancock Street to SaylorAvenue; River Street, Main Streetand Carey Avenue between Car-ey Street in Plains Township andThompson Street in Jenkins
Plymouth Township: Route11 from the municipal building toSickler Hill, Route 29 from ChaseRoad to Route 11
Salem Township: WestButler Street/Shickshinny ValleyRoad between Saw Mill Roadand Carson Lane; Beach Havenarea: Main Street from Fire Com-
pany Lane to River Road, SouthHicks Ferry Road, Tow PathLane; East Berwick area: StoneChurch Road from Route 11to Barners Hollow Road, Bow-ers Road from Barners HollowRoad to Bomboy Lane, JohnsonAvenue from 6th Street to 16thStreet, Sonny Road, 1000 blockof Roslyn Drive, Route 11 fromSalem Township line to Shick-shinny Bridge
Slocum Township: AldenMountain Road; Ruckle Hill Road/Blytheburn Road in both direc-tions between Miner Street inConyngham and Schmids Road
Sugarloaf Township: CenterHill Road, Kisenwether Road atWalp Road, Kisenwether Road atWyndgate Boulevard and BrownsGrove, Hollow Road from LarockRoad to Cedar Head Road
West Pittston: State Route11 in both directions betweenSpruce Street in Salem andSusquehanna Avenue
West Wyoming: Fourth Streetand Shoemaker Avenue
Wilkes-Barre: Division andWalker streets, South RiverStreet from Market Street toNorthampton Street, North RiverStreet from Union Street to Mar-ket Street, West Market Streetfrom River Street to South Frank-lin Street, Market Street Bridge,Pierce Street bridge, MarketStreet both directions betweenWyoming Avenue in Kingston andRiver Street/Market Street
State Route 29 is closed inboth directions between Exit 3(Nanticoke) and Exit 2 (WilkesBarre/Alden)
State Route 92 South isclosed from Nanticoke to Exit 2Wilkes-Barre/Alden
State Route 92 North is closedfrom Exit 2 Wilkes-Barre/ Alden toPA 29 North/ US 11 South
State Route 309 (North CrossValley) is open in both directions.
State Route 3005 is closedin both directions between theLuzerne County line and Ever-green Drive in Ransom in Lacka-wanna County
Eighth Street Bridge in Wyo-ming is closed.
Flooding forces several road closures in Luzerne County
DAVE SCHERBENCO / THE CITIZENS’ VOICE
These are the most recent classified ads to be placed.Check out the complete list of ads in our Classified Section
Buying A New Car?Call Us Today To SellYour Old One!
Excellent condition & location! 3 bed-rooms, new kitchen appliances includ-ed, 1 ½ baths with separate tub &shower. Living room, dining room withnew carpeting. Large family room withhardwood floors under new carpeting.2 enclosed patios. Laundry room withwasher/dryer included. Central air, gasheat, pull down floored attic. 2 sheds.New roof/vinyl siding/windows. In-ground pool. Garage. 65X100 lot.Much more! Asking $209,000. No Real-tors. 570-824-7196.
WILKES-BARREFRANKLINGARDENS
Handicap accessible and pet friendly.Each unit comes with stove, refrigera-tor, and individual air/heat units. Se-cure building and off street parking.Building has 2 community rooms, onehas a 46 inch HDTV with cable andlaundry room, which all are accessiblewith elevator. The apartments are $600for the one bedroom and $675 for the
two bedrooms plus electric.SEPTEMBER SPECIAL – 1ST
MONTH FREE FORQUALIFIED APPLICANTS!!
570-417-0088
WILKES-BARRESAVE MONEY THIS YEAR!Beautiful/quiet neighborhood.
$900+ electric. ONLY Ranch style 2bedroom homes. 2 free months with a2 year lease. Call Square Foot Real Es-tate Management. 866-873-0478.
Drivers
Heating Oil DriversFull time, immediate openings. Bene-fits, 401K, $1000 sign on bonus. CDLand Hazmat required. Experience nec-essary.Email: [email protected] replies to: Box 10026
The Times-Tribune149 Penn Ave.
Scranton PA 18503
General
HALL MONITORWest Side Career and Technology Cen-ter is accepting applications for HallMonitor. Duties include monitoringhallways and male lavatory inspection.Position is for 6 ½ hours per day for180 school days at the rate of $10.00per hour. This position does not in-clude medical benefits. Interested maleapplicants may obtain an applicationat the school and submit updated Act34, 114 (fingerprint), and 151 clear-ances to:
Mrs. Nancy TkatchAdministrative Director
West Side CTC75 Evans St.
Kingston, PA 18704
Deadline for application is:September 16, 2011.
EOE
SAN GENNARO FESTIVAL- NYC9/17 only $35 per person!
www.jztours.com 570-344-2212
PENN STATE BUS TRIPS9/24: E. Michigan 10/29: Illinois10/8: Iowa 11/12: Nebraska10/15: PurdueAll trips: bus, tickets and double tail-gate before and after. Also bus &tailgate available for each game.
