FT Archives: 2008 Delaware River Flood Warnings

The latest warnings from the National Weather Service are calling for minor flooding along the Delaware River from Tocks Island to Frenchtown New Jersey.

We have heard unconfirmed reports from some local emergency management officials calling for more severe flooding than the NWS is predicting in their official statements. These officials seem to feel that the upstate reservoirs might do some extreme releases [like they have done before in similar situations] that would make the rivers go well over flood stage in Bucks and Hunterdon County. We cannot confirm these reports firsthand unfortunately.

Once again it seems that in this day and age, that there should be some way for the reservoirs to be more transparent about their actions. It just seems like common sense to me that they should be required to post their information online; including the current reservoir height or capacity (80 % capacity for example) and information on all the releases that they do.

Anyway, without any more preaching from us, the latest statement is posted below:

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000
FGUS81 KPHI 072157 CCA
RVSPHI
NJZ001-007-009-015-PAZ054>055-061>062-069-081200-
HYDROLOGIC STATEMENT…CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MT HOLLY NJ
456 PM EST FRI MAR 7 2008

…SPECIAL RIVER STATEMENT FOR THE DELAWARE RIVER AND LEHIGH
RIVERS…

AN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE MOVING NORTHEAST FROM THE GULF COAST IS
EXPECTED TO PRODUCE TWO DISTINCT PERIODS OF RAIN FOR THE REGION. THE
FIRST PERIOD OF PRECIPITATION HAS THE POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE OVER ONE
INCH OF RAIN BETWEEN THIS AFTERNOON AND MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. THE SECOND
PERIOD HAS THE POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE BETWEEN ONE AND TWO INCHES OF
RAIN OVER THE SAME AREA BETWEEN 7 AM AND 7 PM ON SATURDAY. SOME OF
THE HEAVIEST RAIN ON SATURDAY COULD BE ASSOCIATED WITH THUNDERSTORM
ACTIVITY. BY THE TIME ALL THE RAIN ENDS BY LATE SATURDAY AFTERNOON,
1.75 TO 2.50 INCHES CAN BE EXPECTED IN MOST LOCATIONS, WITH SOME
AREAS RECEIVING SLIGHTLY HIGHER AMOUNTS.

BOTH THE LEHIGH AND DELAWARE RIVERS ARE RUNNING HIGH AS A RESULT
OF HEAVY RAIN THAT FELL EARLIER IN THE WEEK. THE GROUND ALSO REMAINS
NEARLY SATURATED IN SOME PLACES. AS A RESULT, THE HEAVY RAIN THAT
FALLS THROUGH SATURDAY AFTERNOON WILL CAUSE RIVER AND STREAM LEVELS
TO RISE QUICKLY, PERHAPS REACHING FLOOD LEVELS BY MIDDAY SATURDAY ON
THE SMALLER STREAMS AND BY EARLY SUNDAY ON THE LARGER STREAMS AND
RIVERS. BASED ON A FORECAST OF 1.75 TO 2.50 INCHES OF RAIN THROUGH
SATURDAY EVENING, THE LEHIGH AND DELAWARE RIVERS ARE EXPECTED TO
CREST BETWEEN ONE AND TWO FEET ABOVE FLOOD STAGE IN MANY LOCATIONS.
THESE CRESTS WOULD MOST LIKELY OCCUR SATURDAY AFTERNOON IN THE
FASTER RESPONDING AREAS, TO SUNDAY MORNING IN TRENTON. A FLOOD WATCH
REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE ENTIRE REGION.

SOME SPECIFIC CREST FORECASTS ARE AS FOLLOWS:

FOR THE DELAWARE RIVER NEAR TOCKS ISLAND, THE LATEST STAGE WAS 14.2
FEET AT 215 PM FRIDAY. A CREST BETWEEN 21 AND 23 FEET IS FORECAST
FOR SUNDAY. FLOOD STAGE AT TOCKS ISLAND IS 21 FEET.

FOR THE DELAWARE RIVER AT BELVIDERE, THE LATEST STAGE WAS 13.0 FEET
AT 230 PM FRIDAY. A CREST BELOW FLOOD STAGE BETWEEN 17.5 AND 19.5
FEET IS FORECAST FOR SUNDAY. FLOOD STAGE AT BELVIDERE IS 22 FEET.

FOR THE DELAWARE RIVER AT EASTON-PHILLIPSBURG BRIDGE, THE LATEST
STAGE WAS 15.8 FEET AT 230 PM FRIDAY. A CREST BETWEEN 22 AND 24 FEET
IS FORECAST FOR SUNDAY. FLOOD STAGE AT EASTON-PHILLIPSBURG IS 22
FEET.

FOR THE DELAWARE RIVER AT RIEGELSVILLE, THE LATEST STAGE WAS 16.4
FEET AT 230 PM FRIDAY. A CREST BETWEEN 23 AND 25 FEET IS FORECAST
FOR SUNDAY. FLOOD STAGE AT RIEGELSVILLE IS 22 FEET.

FOR THE DELAWARE RIVER AT FRENCHTOWN, THE LATEST STAGE WAS 10.5 FEET
AT 1 PM FRIDAY. A CREST AROUND THE FLOOD STAGE IS FORECAST FOR
SUNDAY. FLOOD STAGE AT FRENCHTOWN IS 16 FEET.

FOR THE DELAWARE RIVER AT STOCKTON, THE LATEST STAGE WAS 12.3 FEET
AT 2 PM FRIDAY. A CREST BETWEEN 16.5 AND 18.5 FEET IS FORECAST FOR
SUNDAY. FLOOD STAGE AT STOCKTON IS 18 FEET.

FOR THE DELAWARE RIVER AT NEW HOPE, THE LATEST STAGE WAS 8.3 FEET AT
145 PM FRIDAY. A CREST BETWEEN 11 AND 13 FEET IS FORECAST FOR
SUNDAY. FLOOD STAGE AT NEW HOPE IS 13 FEET.

FOR THE DELAWARE RIVER AT WASHINGTON CROSSING, THE LATEST STAGE WAS
11.1 FEET AT 7 AM FRIDAY. A CREST BELOW FLOOD STAGE BETWEEN 14.5 AND
16.5 FEET IS FORECAST FOR SUNDAY. FLOOD STAGE AT WASHINGTON CROSSING
IS 20 FEET.

FOR THE DELAWARE RIVER AT TRENTON, THE LATEST STAGE WAS 16.2 FEET AT
215 PM FRIDAY. A CREST BETWEEN 19.5 AND 21.5 FEET IS FORECAST FOR
SUNDAY. FLOOD STAGE AT TRENTON IS 20 FEET.

FOR THE LEHIGH RIVER AT WALNUTPORT, THE LATEST STAGE WAS 5.6 FEET AT
130 PM FRIDAY. A CREST BETWEEN 8 AND 10 FEET IS FORECAST FOR
SATURDAY NIGHT. FLOOD STAGE AT WALNUTPORT IS 8 FEET.

FOR THE LEHIGH RIVER AT BETHLEHEM, THE LATEST STAGE WAS 5.9 FEET AT
130 PM FRIDAY. A CREST BELOW FLOOD STAGE BETWEEN 11 AND 13 FEET IS
FORECAST FOR SATURDAY NIGHT. FLOOD STAGE AT BETHLEHEM IS 16 FEET.

THESE FORECASTS ASSUME A CONTINUATION OF PRESENT RESERVOIR RELEASES.

THESE FORECASTS ARE BASED ON EXPECTED RAIN OF BETWEEN 1.75 AND 2.50
INCHES THROUGH SATURDAY. IF LESS RAIN FALLS, CRESTS WILL BE LOWER.
IF MORE RAIN FALLS, CRESTS WILL BE HIGHER.

STAY TUNED TO DEVELOPMENTS BY LISTENING TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO…YOUR
LOCAL RADIO OR TELEVISION STATIONS…OR YOUR CABLE TELEVISION
OUTLET.

ONE WAY TO CHECK EXISTING AND FORECAST CONDITIONS ON WATERWAYS
THROUGHOUT OUR REGION IS TO MONITOR THE ADVANCED HYDROLOGIC
PREDICTION SERVICE /AHPS/ AVAILABLE ON OUR HOMEPAGE AT
WWW.WEATHER.GOV/PHI. JUST CLICK THE AHPS ICON ON THE LEFT HAND
MENU.

$$