Harrisburg cleanup from Debby could take weeks

Rachel McDevitt

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I report on energy and the environment for StateImpact Pennsylvania at WITF.

My work focuses on responses and solutions to climate change in the state legislature and communities around the state. I trace my interest in these issues back to my time as a Girl Scout and this episode of Rocko’s Modern Life.

I look forward to winter just for the chance to ski a few times each season. I try to keep myself from doom-scrolling on my phone by keeping my hands busy knitting and learning to play the piano.

I grew up in Cambria County, Pa. and graduated from Temple University. I started at WITF just after Christmas in 2014.

Rachel McDevitt / StateImpact Pennsylvania

Fallen trees damaged homes as the remnants of Hurricane Debby passed through Harrisburg on Aug. 9, 2024.

August 9, 2024 | 8:10 PM

Updated: August 12, 2024 | 3:03 pm

Update:

The National Weather Service says a tornado hit Harrisburg as the remnants of tropical storm Debby crossed Pennsylvania on Friday morning.

NWS confirmed an EF1 tornado with top winds of 105 miles per hour traveled nearly 3½ miles through the east side of Harrisburg city around 4:30 a.m. Friday. Tornadoes are classified on a scale of EF0-EF5, with EF5 having the greatest wind speeds.

Harrisburg Public Works Director Dave West said between 30-40 homes were hit with fallen trees. He expects tree removal and disposal will take up to three weeks. People who need the city to help clear storm debris from their yards can call 311 or use the city’s online form.

West said the extent of the cleanup needed is significant.

“This is like nothing we have been through recently,” he said, adding it reminds him of a winter storm that dropped up to two feet of snow on Harrisburg in 1996.

Debby was a post-tropical depression by the time it reached Pennsylvania. Harrisburg saw more than 5.5 inches of rain in one reporting location. Enola, Cumberland County reported 6.8 inches.

Flash flooding caused a water main break that left 42,000 Pennsylvania American Water customers in Cumberland County under a boil water advisory.

Previously reported:

The remnants of Hurricane Debby brought strong winds and dropped up to 7 inches of rain in some parts of Pennsylvania Friday, according to the National Weather Service.

Cleanup efforts could continue for weeks as homeowners and businesses take stock of the damage.

Weather service forecasters say the worst of the rain has passed for the Harrisburg area, but there is still a threat of flooding into the weekend as rainwater drains into watersheds.

Rachel McDevitt / StateImpact Pennsylvania

An uprooted tree blocks the sidewalk on Market St. in Harrisburg on Aug. 9, 2024. The remnants of Hurricane Debby caused flooding and felled trees throughout Pennsylvania.

Climate change makes hurricanes more intense, meaning people are experiencing more severe storm surge, rain and wind. Debby made landfall in Florida as a category 1 hurricane. It weakened to a tropical storm before remnants reached Pennsylvania, but was still considered dangerous.

Harrisburg Public Works Director Dave West said the city started getting calls about downed trees at 4:30 Friday morning. Crews cleared 155 trees to make roads passable and planned to continue clean up Saturday.

Yuderka Cabrera lives on Swatara Street and works making deliveries for companies such as Instacart. But she couldn’t get out of her neighborhood on Friday because of the downed trees.

“The streets are crazy. A lot of the streets are closed,” she said. “So, it’s difficult, but we try.”

Cabrera’s husband, Jirmi, also makes deliveries, for Staples. He lost a day of work and pay by not being able to move his box truck.

Rachel McDevitt / StateImpact Pennsylvania

The remnants of Hurricane Debby passed through Harrisburg on Aug. 9, 2024.

Joey Keating said he heard his home’s windows rattling, trees crashing, and the wind howling as the storm moved through his neighborhood early in the morning.

“It was by far the strongest wind I’ve ever heard and definitely the scariest,” he said.

Keating said he’s lucky his home wasn’t damaged. Many of his neighbors had trees fall on their houses.

Midtown Cinema, an independent movie theater in Harrisburg, flooded with several inches of water after a drain pipe burst Friday morning.

Stuart Landon, the cinema’s director of community engagement, said water got into the building’s hallway, two of the three theaters, and the lobby.

Rachel McDevitt / StateImpact Pennsylvania

The Midtown Cinema flooded when a drain pipe burst during heavy rainfall on Aug. 9, 2024. Water reached the second row of seats in this theater.

He said they’ll likely be closed for weeks, which is sad for the people who count on the theater as a social space.

“We show the films, oftentimes, that people don’t show anywhere else and this is the place people get to see them, so we want to get back up and running as quickly as possible,” he said.

Gov. Josh Shapiro issued a disaster emergency proclamation for 21 counties, including Adams, Berks, Cumberland, Dauphin, and Fulton. The order makes $2 million of state funds immediately available to help respond. It also waives bidding and contracting procedures to speed the response. The order will be in place for 21 days, unless extended by the General Assembly.

: Joshua Wethli shared this photo of trees down around his home on Market St. in Harrisburg after a tornado passed through the area on Aug. 9, 2024.

: Joshua Wethli cleared debris around his home on Market St. in Harrisburg after a tornado passed through the area on Aug. 9, 2024.

: Wood from trees that fell around Joshua Wethli’s home on Market St. in Harrisburg. Wethli spent the weekend after a tornado passed through the area on Aug. 9, 2024 clearing debris from his yard.