Flood gates opened Friday, bringing record rainfall
Emmaus High School will be closed Monday to allow for repairs.
Heavy rains Friday night flooded basements, football fields and streets across the Lehigh Valley, causing postponements of two high school playoff games, road closures and accidents.
At Lehigh Valley International Airport, the 3.45 inches of rain broke a record for the calendar day that was set in 1932, when the area had 1.59 inches of rainfall.
Winds whipped and heavy rain fell from late Friday into early Saturday, with flooding calls mounting between 11 p.m. and midnight. Trees toppled, cars stalled in high waters or crashed on slippery roads, and rain seeped — or even poured — into basements, with some residents reporting a foot or more of water.
Emmaus High School took a hit overnight.
A video posted to Twitter late Friday shows floodwater pushing through a set of doors on the Macungie Avenue side of the building. Other videos and photos posted to Facebook show water flooding the corridor.
The flooding affected the main office, auxiliary gym and other parts of the lower level.
The school will be closed Monday so staff can repair damage from the flooding, East Penn School District announced Saturday.
A company hired to repair the damage removed water from hallways, classrooms and other areas by Saturday afternoon. Today, the staff will remove carpeting, drywall and other affected porous surfaced.
The District 11 Class 6A football quarterfinal between Emmaus and Nazareth was postponed to Saturday. Also Friday, the 3A playoff game between Notre Dame and Tamaqua was pushed back to Saturday because of the forecast.
The Northampton County 911 Center logged more than 80 calls for flooding, water rescues and pump details overnight, the daily log shows.
Fire crews were being called out for pump duties in Emmaus, Lower Saucon Township, Allentown and other areas. Hellertown said the Water Street Bridge will be closed until further notice because of flooding. PennDOT is scheduled to inspect the bridge today.