Encampments forced out by rising floodwaters

By Kalea Gunderson

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    PITTSBURGH (WTAE) — Floodwaters forced people experiencing homelessness out of their encampments on Monday.

One person had to be rescued over the weekend.

Allegheny County’s Department of Health Services said water levels rose much more quickly than expected, overtaking encampments along the Mon Wharf.

The city of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County’s outreach partners began warning people living in encampments in advance of what’s considered to be a life-threatening weather event.

“We had a lot of outreach workers on site throughout the last two weeks, really, where there’s been up and down on the wharf, the river levels, and so we want to make sure people were able to get inside and are able to move their stuff,” Director of Human Services Erin Dalton said.

Dalton said the city offered storage for people’s belongings, and Code Blue was issued due to flooding. It’s typically declared when temperatures drop below 26 degrees. Dalton said a concerning weather event like flooding can trigger it.

“It tends to rise slowly, but in this case, it rose far faster than I think even the projections suggested. So, while people might have been making kind of rational decisions about the water levels, it ended up becoming a really unsafe situation,” Dalton said.

Late Sunday, Pittsburgh police said a person had to be rescued by ladder from a flooded encampment. River rescue divers went through the flooded encampment for any other victims and said the tents were all empty.

“What I was hearing is that one that some of the people that ended up in that camp actually were displaced from the other camp that was closed on First Avenue, and some of them ended up going to this camp,” said Jerrell Gilliam, executive director of Light of Life Rescue Mission.

All shelters in the county supervised by the DHS are open 24 hours a day while these conditions continue.

Light of Life also worked to warn people living in encampments and opened its shelters and warming centers to anyone unhoused.

Despite efforts to evacuate the Mon Wharf, some people don’t seek shelter.

“Often times when somebody has been dealing with multiple layers of trauma, you have that fight, flight or freeze response. And so, in some cases, someone might hear the warning going out and they might be aware that this could be life-threatening, but in some cases, they just freeze. They just refused to move,” Gilliam said.

The code blue is in effect through Jan. 31 at 8 a.m., depending on the weather.

The city’s public safety director said the Mon Wharf won’t be able to reopen until it’s safe again, likely in a few months.

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