State of emergency declared in Armstrong

Less than a year after floodwaters swamped Armstrong last May, the city is again seeing flooding.

As a result, the City of Armstrong declared a state of emergency on Friday morning.

The mayor said the community is seeing extensive flooding along Meighan Creek just as it did last year, but this year, the influx of water is coming two months earlier in the season.

“It was a direct result of the amount of rain we had last night and all of the low-elevation snow melt,” Mayor Chris Pieper said.

The Pioneer Square assisted living facility has been particularly hard hit. You need rubber boots to walk through the lower level.

The facility has had to move those living on the lower floor, upstairs.

“The downstairs is completely flooded so it is non-livable,” director of operations Wendy Calhoun said.

“We are trying today to figure out where we are going to place them to give them peace of mind that they are going to have a safe warm place to live.”

The facility is on Willowdale Drive which was completely swamped by floodwater last May.

READ MORE: Armstrong cleaning up after ‘pretty devastating’ flood

Kim Butler moved to the street since the last flood. She said her house had two inches of water in the crawl space on Friday.

“I’m just kind of panicking and watching it,” Butler said.

The city has been working to get permission to dredge the Meighan Creek to prevent flooding but it hasn’t happened yet.

“I just wish the City of Armstrong would be on top of this all the time because they know it happened last year. They should be prepared,” Butler said.

However, the mayor said it has taken time to get approval for dredging from higher levels of government.

“To get permission and the proper protocol from everybody is almost impossible,” Pieper said.

READ MORE: After lengthy flood cleanup, Armstrong aims to prevent future disasters

Regardless, the community has to deal with the flooding it’s facing now.

Worried the situation will only get worse, local charity Kindale emptied out the lower level of one of its buildings on Friday with the help of volunteers.

The charity is hoping to minimize the damage if the space floods like it did last year.

“Everyone is telling us it is going to flood, we are praying that it is not,” spokesperson Cindy Masters said.

The city said the flooding has not forced any road closures but it is cautioning residents to be careful around creeks because the banks might be unstable.