• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Post Your Problems Column: July 1, 2005

Posted on: Friday, 1 July 2005, 15:00 CDT

Jul. 1--The heavy rainfall generated by the remnants of Hurricane Ivan quickly flooded Weyman Creek behind Janet and Edward Carney's home in Overbrook.

As the muddy water rose in the tributary of Saw Mill Run last Sept. 17, a large tree stump on the other side of the stream slid down the saturated hillside and into the middle of the creek.

The water on the upstream side of the trunk immediately backed up and surged over a reinforced concrete block wall built years ago to protect the couple's property.

The water soon filled the back yard and basement of their two-story frame home. Janet Carney and her daughter Michelle hurried to carry as much as they could from the basement to the first floor. The water climbed the stairs faster than they could.

"It was overwhelming," said Janet Carney, 61, a clerical employee at Carrick High School. "It just didn't stop. Michelle got our car out of the driveway just in time."

Meanwhile, the water had inundated the huge stump. The only evidence of its presence was a 20-foot arc-shaped spray of water launched from the top of its sawed-off trunk.

The damage to the family's property was extensive. More than 4 feet of water had entered the basement. The reinforced concrete block wall, which provided support for the family's above-ground pool and deck, was bowed and sloped toward the stream. The couple drained the pool, took it apart and removed the deck.

Edward Carney, 64, a former remodeler, built the wall several years ago with his son, also named Edward. They couldn't believe what the surging stream had done to it.

Edward and Janet Carney called the city and asked to have the stump removed. They believed it would trap other debris in future storms and cause the water to back up and flood their property again.

In early May, a city forestry crew climbed over the wall and cut the 8-foot-long trunk of the tree down to its thigh-sized root system. But the crew wasn't able to remove the stump because it was too heavy. It weighs at least a ton.

The only way to get it out of there is to break through the concrete wall with a backhoe or front loader, drive it into the creek, dig out the stump and put it in a dump truck.

But, if the city did that, should it then repair the wall?

The Carneys thought it should; the city said it wouldn't.

Janet Carney called me, explained the problem and asked me to take a look.

When I arrived, we walked across the back yard to the wall. It's about 4 feet high and 40 feet long. Adjacent to the base of the wall and designed to help protect it is a concrete pad 3 feet wide and more than 1 foot thick. The wall and the concrete pad had been big enough and strong enough to ward off all prior storm run-off.

But Ivan, which dumped almost 6 inches of rain on Sept. 17, made Weyman Creek bigger and stronger. The powerful current undercut the pad and dropped it toward the creek. The water that filled the back yard bowed the wall. The wall has to be replaced. Removing it won't be easy. The concrete blocks are filled with concrete and steel reinforcing rods.

Since the wall has to be rebuilt, I suggested the Carneys permit the city to make a 10-foot-wide hole in the lower section of the wall to remove the stump. I said the work would have to be coordinated so they could build a new wall before the next major storm arrived.

I asked Guy Costa, the city public works director, if he would agree with that. He did.

"Although the stump in the stream is not the city's responsibility, we will remove it as a gesture of goodwill to the Carneys and other families along that creek," Costa said. "And, if we can remove any other obstacles in the creek bed above or below while we are out there, we will."

"I hope the work can be done as soon as possible," Janet Carney said. "I'm afraid every time it rains."

Post Your Problems appears Tuesday through Friday, addressing questions and problems from readers. Post-Gazette Staff Writer Lawrence Walsh helps sort through bureaucratic problems.

Lawrence Walsh can be reached at 412-263-1895. His e-mail address is pyp@post-gazette.com.

-----

To see more of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.post-gazette.com.

Copyright (c) 2005, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

More News in this Category