Fox Chapel Cleaning Up After Storms Cause Widespread Damage
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FOX CHAPEL (KDKA) – Strong storms moved into the area on Monday and caused widespread damage.
Fox Chapel and O'Hara Township were among the hardest hit areas.
According to KDKA-TV Meteorologist Ron Smiley, about 3 inches of rain fell in the Fox Chapel area.
As a result, multiple homes, the Fox Chapel Field Club, Fox Chapel Golf Club and Fox Chapel Racquet Club all sustained damage.
During the height of the storms, the Fox Chapel Racquet Club's pool area was completely flooded out.
A tree fell during the storm, damming the creek behind the club and sending the water directly into the pool.
"Awe-inspiring. The water was all the way up to the diving board and just swirling around," Fox Chapel Racquet Club President Skip Fox said, "and it was just unbelievable how much water was moving and how powerful the water was."
The Fourth of July will have to be celebrated in neighboring pools, as cleaning could take a while.
Watch John Shumway's report --
Drivers became trapped in their vehicles when floodwaters started to rise along Squaw Run Road. The Allegheny County Swift Water Rescue Team was called in to rescue several people.
"We do see the creek rise often when we have rain issues and when we have water flow issues, but this is the worst I've seen this year so far," Foxwall EMS Commander Joshua Worth said.
Meanwhile, some residents had to be evacuated from their homes.
Gerry Milletari lives on Delafield Road in Aspinwall. It's flooded at her home before, but nothing like what she experienced on Monday.
"It was so powerful my sump pump from my French drains couldn't take it so that started boiling over and it ran over the side of the wall and it just looked like a miniature water fall," Milletari said.
She says the water was so powerful, it forced her garage door to open. Parked inside, a Cadillac and her husband's classic 1953 Lincoln.
"It's probably ruined because water was up over the seats. Same with the Cadillac and I have a huge, huge collection of Christmas ornaments," she said. "The basement is nothing but mud and debris everywhere."
Milletari said after Hurricane Ivan, she and her husband had boards put in place at the top of their driveway, to keep rushing water from getting into the garage and basement, in case of flooding. Last night, it wasn't enough.
Mud covered the floor of the basement all the way to the back of her home.
"This is the worst it's ever been, worst it's ever been," she said.
Brian Dunn and a friend were driving around the area last night to see the rising floodwater.
"Because of the car we were in, we got a little bit of enjoyment out of it, without realizing how dangerous it was. Luckily, we were in a big heavy car. In something little, it probably wasn't so funny," he said.
Early Tuesday morning, Aspinwall and City of Pittsburgh crews were out cleaning the road, moving chunks of asphalt from underneath cars parked on the street and clearing the mud and debris.