PA Parks Under Water Again?

Not a pleasant topic, but eastern PA has been getting hammered the past three days with off and on (but mostly on) torrential rain. All but a few counties are under some sort of flood or flash flood watch or warning.

The smaller streams have been flooding since Monday, and the major rivers-- Susquehanna, Delaware, Lehigh, and Schuylkill are supposed to be cresting well over flood stage on Wednesday and Thursday. Many forecasters are saying it will be worse than Ivan in 2004.

This could affect things at several PA parks, including Bushkill, Dorney, Hershey and Knoebels. Hopefully, no major flooding or damage will occur. But I would suggest anyone planning a trip to any of these parks in the next week or so call ahead to make sure things are OK.

That's some excellent advice. Do you remember two years ago, when someone anomously posted a picture from inside of Hershey, and the Immelan of Great Bear was under water? Anyone whose been to Knoebels and been in the Mining Museum/Knoebels history museum knows that the park has been flooded multiple times.

This isn't just a Pennsylvania problem, as Maryland has been getting hammered with ridiculous amounts of rain almost everyday, and things aren't good up north either. If I were Mark Shapiro, I'd be very nervous about this quarter.

I remember seeing a picture of the old, now defunct, West View Park with a flash flood raging through it years ago. This was very brief, however, and did little damage. The suburbs of Pittsburgh have some valleys that are quite vulnerable to flash flooding.

By the way, KW is on top of a bluff so there should be no flood worries there.

Probably the park best known for flooding was the old Coney Island in Cincinnati. It was right on the Ohio river and the numerous river floods became a constant concern for the park. ,

The Knoebels Flying Turns webcam shows a lot of water right now.

Wow there is a lot of water beneath the structure.

As always, I'm worried about Bushkill. It seems things are finally starting to look up and I'd hate to see any of their momentum taken away. Hopefully the rain is done for a while.

Looks like the water is receding. Maybe they got off easy this time.

The Bloomsburg, PA local paper is saying that the Susquehanna will crest 7 feet higher than it did with Agnes in `72, when Knoebels was hit really bad. I would it all depends on where the worst ran was and how quickly the brooks that merge at Kneobels clear out. Hopefully all will be well.

Hersheypark experienced a bit of flooding in the bottom of Great Bear's immelman yesterday when I was at the park. They did get the ride open later in the day, though.

I spent the day at Dorney yesterday and there was some rain, but nothing serious. It was actually nice in the afternoon and we spent some time in Wildwater Kingdom. I think the park is far enough East to miss the brunt of this storm. Unfortunately, my basement isn't....

I would hate to see the PA parks- or your basement, for that matter- covered in water. That region has been hit bad enough by rainfall in the past few years.