Editing Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania (section)

====Flooding====
[[File:Flood Walls on Market Street in Wilkes-Barre.jpg|thumb|Temporary [[flood wall]]s on Market Street in Wilkes-Barre in September 2011]]
[[File:Wilkes Barre Flood.jpg|thumb|Wilkes-Barre during the September 2011 flood]]
Manufacturing and retail remained Wilkes-Barre's strongest industries, but the city's economy took a major blow from [[Hurricane Agnes|Tropical Storm Agnes]] in 1972. The storm pushed the [[Susquehanna River]] to a height of nearly {{convert|41|ft}}, four feet above the city's [[levee]]s, flooding downtown with nine feet of water. A total of 128 deaths were attributed to the storm. Most drowning deaths were caused by people trapped in their cars. Almost 400,000 homes and businesses were destroyed and 220,000 Pennsylvanians were left homeless (as were hundreds of thousands in other states). Damage was estimated to be $2.1 billion in Pennsylvania alone. President [[Richard Nixon]] sent aid to the area, after flying over in his helicopter on his way to his [[Camp David]] retreat (on June 24, 1972).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/post/hurricane-agnes-a-look-back-after-40-years/2012/06/21/gJQAnDS0sV_blog.html|title=Hurricane Agnes: A look back after 40 years|first=Don|last=Lipman|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=June 21, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.washingtonian.com/2012/06/19/deluge/|title=Retrospective: The Damage Caused by Hurricane Agnes – Washingtonian|date=June 19, 2012}}</ref>

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Wilkes-Barre attempted to prevent the damage from storms as intense as Agnes by building a levee system that rises {{convert|41|ft}}; completed in January 2003, the network of levees cost roughly $250 million.<ref>Skrapits, Eizabeth. [http://citizensvoice.com/news/four-years-later-levee-system-standing-tall-1.1939307 "Four years later, levee system standing tall"], ''[[The Citizens' Voice]]'', September 9, 2015. Accessed March 27, 2017. "The levee was officially completed on Jan. 14, 2003. The cost totaled more than $250 million. Belleman said the system was designed for an Agnes-level flood of 41 feet, but it held up under the larger Tropical Storm Lee flood."</ref> It has successfully resisted other threatening floods in 1996, 2004, and 2006. The [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|Army Corps of Engineers]] has praised the quality of the levees. In 2006, the city made the front page of national newspapers when 200,000 residents were told to evacuate in the wake of flooding that was forecast to reach levels near that of 1972, though the flooding fell short of predictions.<ref>Staff. [http://www.cnn.com/2006/WEATHER/06/29/east.flood/index.html?eref=sitesearch " Levees hold Susquehanna; Delaware River rages; Wilkes-Barre evacuees head back home; death toll rises"], [[CNN]], June 29, 2006. Accessed March 27, 2007. "The news was better in northeastern Pennsylvania, where a mandatory evacuation affecting up to 200,000 people in Wilkes-Barre and a nearby valley area was lifted.Officials said the city's $175 million levee system held back the rising Susquehanna River despite floods caused by overflowing tributaries and creeks, and rain that averaged a half-inch an hour in some areas."</ref>

In late August 2011, [[Hurricane Irene 2011|Hurricane Irene]], centered off the [[New Jersey]] coast, caused the Susquehanna River to rise to flood level, but there was no cause for alarm. Then, from September 6 to 8, heavy rains from the inland remnants of [[Tropical Storm Lee (2011)|Tropical Storm Lee]] and [[Hurricane Katia (2011)|Hurricane Katia]] offshore funneled heavy rain over the Wyoming Valley and into the Susquehanna River watershed. The Susquehanna swelled to record levels across the state. In Wilkes-Barre, it crested on September 9 at an all-time record of {{convert|42.66|ft|0}},<ref>{{cite web|url=http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=bgm&gage=wbrp1|title=Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service for the Susquehanna River at Wilkes-Barre |publisher=NOAA National Weather Service |access-date=September 9, 2011}}</ref> nearly {{convert|2|ft|1}} higher than water levels reached during Hurricane Agnes in 1972. The levees protected Wilkes-Barre, but nearby boroughs did not escape, as [[West Pittston, Pennsylvania|West Pittston]], [[Plymouth, Pennsylvania|Plymouth]], and parts of [[Plains Township, Pennsylvania|Plains Township]] were affected by extreme flooding.