Tyrone

Congratulations to the Bellwood-Antis Blue Devils and Coach John Hayes on a great 2011 Season. Although it's over....it'll go into the record books as an outstanding year!

Every member of the team can be proud all the rest of his life of the great team he was a part of!

Follow the Nittany Lions on WTRN 1340AM/ 100.7FM. They need your support more now than ever before!

Congratulations to Tyrone's Nick Patton! Silver Medal At 2011 State Track Championships

A wide photo tells the story of a romance that began when one Gardner Guards member picked up another, and noticed an attractive sister on the porch. Today, 30 years later, a great story! They all now live in Orlando, Florida. Use side arrows to see full photograph

Julie Wilt (in Red, White & Blue), a national Winner in Special Olympics, was interviewed on WTRN and on the PA System by Jean Dixon, Cary Simpson, and Ted Simpson (who is checking a wire) from the steps of the Post Office. The parade had 56 units and was well attended.

How long will we wait for something to be done about the flood problem in Tyrone? The continued development and paving of areas that drain into the "bottleneck" at Tyrone must be dealt with. Every drop of rain that falls from 17th Street in Altoona to Bald Eagle must flow past Tyrone. This includes the Penn State Campus in Altoona, Bellwood, Tipton, Greenwood, etc. WTRN urges everyone to work together to solve this problem. The Flood on December first was just a few inches from coming onto the streets of downtown Tyrone!

Photos of the Flooding in Tyrone on December 1, 2010. Photos by Tyrone Borough Mayor Bill Fink

If you look down at the base of all of this underbrush growing in the bed of the Little Juniata River, you will see a "tiny creek". But, when torrential rains come, this tiny creek is fed by all of the drain-off from the middle of Altoona to Tyrone.....and the community is in peril. Isn't there someone who will listen among the paid government employees....and let this underbrush be trimmed? We will be pleased to post your point of view. Call WTRN 814-684-3200 or fax 814-684-1220 or email amnnet@aol.com

In response to WTRN's Community Information Page on-line, which suggests that removing brush from the Little Juniata streambed is a flooding solution, I have attached two editorials I wrote a year or so ago, They were both published in the Daily Herald.(Note: One of these is attached at the end of Bill Anderson's comments. In the interest of space, the other is available upon request)

I received no response to the editorials...... from Mayor Fink, or anyone else, for that matter. Notice that the "New" (built in 1983) Pennsylvania Avenue Bridge becomes a dam during exceptionally high water events (based on personal observation during the Ivan storm). Clearly, cutting brush or ditching upstream from the bridge will have no effect except possibly to make things worse by speeding the water along. (there was no visible brush or trees blocking the bridge during Ivan). However, It is my view that several fairly inexpensive steps if taken, could make Tyrone a lot more flood proof.

First, the debris built up on the bend and under the bridge on the Reclamere side of the river should be excavated. Additional excavation under the bridge may also be useful in allowing more water through. Or we could just replace the dam(n) bridge with a steel, open framework, suspension structure (like the old one).

Second, the flood wall behind the Armory/Moose should be raised at least two feet and extended upstream to join with the "dike" behind Park Avenue (this dike should also be inspected and repaired, I see what look like breaches here and there).

Even though the ultimate solution is to prevent storm run-off from townships upstream, these two steps would have saved 10th street, the YMCA (and Joybeans) from the Ivan flood waters of September, 2004..

Of course, while I am a degreed engineer (retired), these recommendations are only opinions, until an engineering study is done. However, The cost would be minimal and the results would not harm people or the river. By the way, the improvements to the flood wall could be included in the Tyrone RiverWalk project. Several of us were pursuing this until interest lagged.

PS: I have also sent this to Amanda Golden at the paper.

Bill

That the periodic flooding of downtown Tyrone is a serious problem is indisputable. On the night of September 18^th, 2004 Hurricane Ivan came rushing down 10^th street , inundating our little coffee shop (Joybeans) and many other businesses in the process. The loss Carol and I suffered was hard to swallow but it was insignificant compared to some others, especially those along Park Avenue , whose homes were bathed in muddy water and left with the stench of mildew and mold.

Through editorials, presentations to groups and forum responses, I have tried to focus the borough leadership and its citizens on the real cause of flooding in Tyrone and indeed most Pa towns. And that cause, as Bill Fink correctly states, is poorly managed storm- water runoff in the headwaters of the river. We have long maintained that digging a deeper ditch (advocated in the 1978 flood plan), is the wrong answer. What we need is to focus our attention on where the water comes from and that is Antis and Logan townships. Every new roof, parking - lot, clear-cut or roadway that is created upstream, sends more storm water down our way.

This does not mean that development has to cease in our neighboring townships. What it does mean is that we must be sure that each new project, small or large, has a plan in place to retain all additional storm-water runoff on site, both during construction and after. In addition we need a proactive plan for reducing storm water runoff from existing large impermeable surfaces such as the I99 corridor and significant roofs and parking lots throughout the headwaters.

Mayor Fink’s efforts to understand the Tyrone flooding issue is commendable. He has brought our concerns to PennDOT, Congressman Shuster and others. He has called for a consortium including Snyder and Antis townships and the Mayor of Bellwood. These are excellent first steps and we congratulate our new Mayor for taking them. However, several very important stake holders have been omitted. Many of the Little Juniata River tributaries flow out of Logan Township , Juniata and east Altoona . In addition to local governments, watershed protection groups, such as the Little Juniata River association also have a role to play and we stand ready to do so. What is needed is a watershed wide plan for storm-water management. Mayor Fink is on the right track.