MORGANTOWN — As the crow flies, it’s only about 3.3 miles between the Morgantown Utility Board’s water treatment plant on Don Knotts Boulevard and its wastewater treatment plant near the Star City Bridge.
During the height of Sunday’s deluge, the rain gauge on the Don Knotts Boulevard facility was collecting rain at a rate of 2.93 inches per hour and ended up catching a total of 2.21 inches.
Meanwhile, just down the river in Star City, that gauge only captured 0.82 inches and registered 1.07 inches-per-hour during the storm’s most intense downpour there.
MUB’s rain gauges on Dorsey Avenue, Stewartstown Road and the Cheat Lake Wastewater Treatment Plant gathered 2.13, 2.06 and 0.97 inches, respectively, on Sunday.
While Morgantown certainly got off easier than other parts of the state this time around, the most recent storms certainly caused their share of problems.
According to MUB Communications Director Chris Dale, crews responded to more than two dozen calls for assistance due to flooding on Sunday – primarily involving water in basements and similar concerns.
The heavy rain flooded a lift station along Dents Run creek in Granville, knocking it out of service until water receded and crews brought it back online.
“We also had a pump in Westover that needed reset,” Dale said. “This was unrelated to the flooding that occurred in Westover.”
Westover Public Works Director Jason Stinespring said the lower ballfields in the city’s park were pretty much destroyed. He said numerous residents ended up with flooded basements and crews spent Monday clearing debris from city streets.
Morgantown Communications Director Brad Riffee said that while there were areas of high water and localized flooding there didn’t appear to be any significant damage to facilities or infrastructure.
“We did experience some typical maintenance issues, including a downed tree and one report of basement flooding from a resident. As always, our emergency crews address calls promptly and we’re extremely thankful for our Morgantown fire, police and public worlds departments who actively respond to these types of emergencies,” he said.
While social media images of flooding in and around Morgantown certainly triggered flashbacks to the June 13 and July 29 storms of 2021, the Fathers Day rains weren’t quite on that level.
Six rain gauges recorded an average rate of rainfall at 3.3 inches per hour during the June 2021 storm and nearly 4 inches per hour in July.
Both of those rain events were identified as greater than 100-year storms, meaning storms with less than 1% chance of occurring in a given year – much less twice in 50 days.
This spring and summer has been less about one or two major events and more about sustained output.
According to online weather trackers, Morgantown has received 29.88 inches of rain so far this year, which is about 6 inches ahead of the year-to-date average.
Further, a third of that total has fallen in the last few weeks. About half of May’s 9.34-inch rain total fell in the last 10 days of the month. So far, it’s rained 5.96 inches in June.
