Heavy rain in Centre County closes roadways, causes flooding. Here’s what we saw

Centre County’s Friday flood watch and flood warnings are officially over.

The remnants of Tropical Storm Debby hit central Pennsylvania hardest in the morning and didn’t taper off until the afternoon. During that time, multiple roads were closed and some homes were flooded as State College reportedly received more than 3 inches of rain within a 24-hour period.

In Unionville, Howard Fire Company was forced to perform specialized rescues to retrieve some residents as muddied-but-shallow waters came into their living rooms. Other basements flooded, some dealt with power outages, and some fallen trees caused issues.

But, by 6 p.m. Friday, fewer than 500 West Penn Power customers in Centre County were without power. And nearly everyone was expected to get their power back by 8 p.m.

Still, that doesn’t mean the impact of the flooding is entirely over.

At Foster Joseph Sayers Lake, for example, Bald Eagle State Park announced on Facebook that all launches and marina docks will be inaccessible by Saturday morning. Some bathrooms, the swimming area at the beach and the playground at the beach will also be closed. Because the lake levels are expected to rise into early next week, flooding will remain possible in certain areas of the park.

In the Unionville area, a shelter was opened at the Unionville Community Center (201 Allegheny St.) to help impacted residents.

PennDOT had also reported at least a half-dozen road closures and, by 6 p.m., three still remained closed. Locally, seven other roads temporarily closed — but it wasn’t clear whether they had reopened by Friday evening.

For updated information from PennDOT, go to 511PA.com and, to see updated information locally, check out Centre County Emergency Management’s Facebook page.

Here are some sights from around the area Friday:

This story was originally published August 9, 2024 at 9:36 AM.