WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — Floodgates in the city of Wilkes-Barre were put in place Tuesday morning as a precaution against creek flooding.
DPW crews put up two gates along Solomon Creek. Waller Street and Regent Street will be closed because of the gates.
Floodgates at South Franklin Street will be closed on Tuesday afternoon. The Barney Street bridge will remain open, as there are no imminent high water issues.
The Wilkes-Barre fire chief said that while the gates were put up during the day as a precaution, their other concern is power outages due to high winds.
"It's safer for the staff, the firefighters, and DPW to do it during the day when it's light out rather than in a cold pouring rain when it's dark out. It's really not safe to do it then, so that's why we've started the process now," said Wilkes-Barry Fire Chief Jay Delaney.
Crews will be monitoring other creeks in the city as well.
Even though, on the surface, it looks as though flooding is the main concern, emergency officials believe people in the city should be prepared to lose power.
"All of our fire stations have emergency generators. Our public safety buildings have those. Most of our senior citizen high-rises have emergency generators, but our residents, you know, when their power goes out, so we tell them to make sure they have a flashlight and those batteries. And make sure your cell phone is charged so at least you have some way to communicate if there is an issue."
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Information on road closures is available at 511PA.com
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