WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Officials in Williamsport have had Tropical Storm Debby on their radar all week. The city's street sweeper has been out cleaning debris off roads. City's public works crews who were out earlier during the day on Thursday clearing cover basins to prevent flooding.
"We can only get so many of them, there's a lot of them in the city, we would ask maybe the landowners—home owners of their property to give us a hand, assist with that, but we are doing our best trying to get everything we can, get cleaned up, get ready, our sweeper truck is out every day all day throughout the week and just doing our best to prepare for this storm," said Scott Livermore, Williamsport Public Works Director.
When Tropical Storm Debby starts dumping rain tomorrow, Williamsport's Department of Public Works will have 26 employees on staff.
"The way the storm's coming right now, it's a day time storm so we're going to have full staff, so it won't be an issue where we get caught off guard," said Livermore.
One of the main areas of concerns is Graffis Run, which is located in the city's Vallamont Hills section. Livermore says homeowners should be prepared to prevent rising waters near their homes.
"If they can clean the grates off out in front of their homes—that helps us out and to just make sure water can get to them." he said.
Livermore would also like to remind drivers if you come across pooling water on the road, do not drive through it because you never know what could be in the water.
"There could be sinkholes that you're unaware of, you just don't know your vehicle could potentially float if it is deep enough you just don't know what's under it so it is very important to just don't drive through it and stay back."
Officials are sending out a reminder ahead of this storm, turn around, don't drown