Officials are still compiling numbers of water rescues conducted across Pennsylvania due to flooding, but Randy Padfield, the state’s emergency management agency director, said Thursday that he estimated the number to be in the “thousands.”
Padfield added that officials in Montgomery County alone responded to at least 500 calls for water rescues. He said that the state has heard reports of a small number of deaths due to the storm, but noted that state officials have not yet confirmed this.
Padfield also said that in Bucks County, a group of firefighters conducting water rescues got “pinned up against a bridge pier by moving water” and ended up having to be rescued themselves. The firefighters were transported to a hospital for evaluation, Padfield said.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf said Thursday that the state is slowly moving into “recovery mode” and noted that there was a “long road ahead of us.”
“I know many people in Pennsylvania are hurting,” Wolf said, adding that while different parts of the state experienced historic rainfall, the southeastern part of the state appears to have sustained the most damage.
Melissa Batula, acting executive deputy secretary for the state’s transportation department, said that 376 roads remain closed statewide. Over 230 of those roads were closed due to flooding, but many were also closed due to downed trees and power lines.
Padfield added that in addition to extreme flooding, state officials also received reports of “destructive tornadoes” in the southeastern part of the state, but said the National Weather Service is working to confirm them.
As of Thursday morning, floodwaters had receded in most of the state, with the exception of the southeastern portion, Padfield said.
He added that state officials will be conducting damage assessments Thursday, including the use of “overflights” to surveil damage from above.