Dozens of roads are closed across southwestern and northcentral Pennsylvania due to heavy rainfall and flooding. The state Department of Transportation said more closures may be expected on Tuesday.
In five counties in the southwestern part of the state, the closures impacted roads including U.S. 22, which connects Blair and Huntingdon Counties. But PennDOT press officer Tara Callahan-Henry said the majority of the roads closed are not major arteries.
“Still they impact people who need to get home or get to work, so as soon as the water recedes, we can check those roads,” Callahan-Henry said. “We’ll get them open as soon as we can.”
As of 4 p.m. on Monday, roads in Bedford, Blair, Fulton, Huntingdon and Somerset Counties have been impacted.
In Western Pennsylvania, seven counties including Allegheny and Westmoreland Counties have road closures. Five other counties in Northern and Central Pennsylvania similarly closed numerous roads due to flooding.
“The river has not crested yet, so I would assume that through tonight and at least tomorrow we might get a few more road closures added to the list,” Callahan-Henry said. She said the department will monitor roads closely.
She said closures like these are not unusual, but unexpected around this time of the year.
“A lot of times we have this after a winter season when the snow is melting and maybe it’s a rainy spring,” she said. “It just depends.”
Parts of Route 655 in Fulton and Huntingdon Counties were re-opened by Monday afternoon.
Pennsylvania had the rainiest summer on record this year, according to the National Weather Service.
Callahan-Henry said it’s unsure how Hurricane Florence might affect Pennsylvania, but she advised drivers to find the latest road closure information on the 511PA website.
