Heavy rainfall, downed trees have caused road closures in Centre County. Here’s what to know
Heavy rainfall that began Wednesday and lasted through Thursday morning is causing several road closures throughout Centre County.
Most of Centre County was under a flood advisory, issued by the National Weather Service at State College, until 11 a.m. Just before 9 a.m., the NWS stated heavy rain is coming to an end, but people should “expect water levels to continue rising on area small streams, and minor flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly in the advisory area.” Some locations that will experience flooding include State College, Bellefonte, Park Forest Village, Woodward, Boalsburg, Pleasant Gap, Stormstown, Lemont, Zion, Belleville, Houserville, Mill Hall and Pine Grove Mills.
Penns Creek was at about 10.24 feet as of 5 p.m. Thursday, according to the latest observed value at the National Weather Services’ gauge. Flood stage is at 8 feet. Bald Eagle Creek near the Beech Creek station was also just above flood stage on Thursday afternoon.
Because of road closures in the Penns Valley area, school buildings in the Penns Valley Area School District will serve as temporary shelters for students who cannot be transported home by bus, Nate Althouse, the district’s community relations director, wrote in an email.
“Parents have been notified and we are working on plans to ensure that students can wait until their families can make arrangements to pick them up safely,” he wrote.
In State College, the Overnight RV lot will be closed Thursday night due to excessive rain, Penn State announced. The lot is expected to open at 10 a.m. Friday, and Thursday night pass holders should go to Grange Fair Park in Centre Hall.
After multiple closures Thursday, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation issued an update just before 4:30 p.m. on the status of Centre County roads:
- State Route 45 between Route 445 (North Street) near Madisonburg and Route 235 near Hartleton in Union County is expected to be closed until at least 10 a.m. Friday. Drivers will follow a detour using Interstate 80 and Route 15, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
The state Route 45 bridge in Millheim remains closed. PennDOT must perform an inspection of the bridge before reopening the highway.
- State Route 192 between Route 880 and Route 445 has reopened.
- State Route 445 between Route 45 and Route 192 has reopened.
- State Route 445 between Route 192 and Route 64 has reopened.
- State Route 2011 (Penn Street) between Millheim and Coburn has reopened.
- A large tree was down on East College Avenue between South Allen Street and South Pugh Street in downtown State College Thursday morning, blocking the roadway.
For updates on local roadways, visit www.511pa.com.
This story was originally published September 23, 2021 at 10:25 AM.
