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Above: A photo taken Tuesday morning at McKees Point Marina, looking toward the four docks that were damaged in the aftermath of Monday's torrential downpours. Photo by the Rev. Brian Evans, McKeesport Trail Commission.

(Editor's Note: Story updated to clarify data.)

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Damage to the city's marina in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Sandy could reach hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The storm that dumped 3 to 5 inches of rain on Western Pennsylvania Monday and Tuesday sent water in the Youghiogheny River gushing about 30 times its average daily flow in October, and more than four times a record set on the same date in 1974, according to data posted on the U.S. Geological Survey's website.

The powerful floodwaters damaged four docks at McKees Point Marina beyond repair on Tuesday morning. A fifth dock was partially submerged Tuesday night after a tree collided with it, and a sixth was stuck on some other underwater debris, said Ray Dougherty, marina manager.

One of the damaged docks floated out into the Monongahela River, where it was briefly stuck under a former Pennsylvania Railroad bridge between McKeesport and Duquesne that is now used by the Great Allegheny Passage hiking-biking trail.

Preliminary estimates put damage to the marina at $180,000, Mayor Michael Cherepko said Tuesday night. The city will do its best to make sure the facility is fully operational by next spring, he said.

Above: Fast-moving water on the Youghiogheny River Tuesday morning. Photo by the Rev. Brian Evans, McKeesport Trail Commission.

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It was not immediately known whether debris collided with the first dock that broke loose --- dock "D," the fourth from the mouth of the river --- or whether the sheer force of the water caused the initial damage. Dougherty said he heard the dock break loose at about 10 a.m. Tuesday.

Once unmoored, Dock D crashed into Docks A, B and C, the three docks closest to the Monongahela, and left them crumpled against support poles. Parts of those docks continued to float away during the day.

It is unlikely that any of the docks will be recovered, or that they would be re-usable, Dougherty said.

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City officials are hopeful that all of the losses will be covered by insurance.

"We won't have a definitive answer until the current slows down a little bit," Cherepko said. "We're hoping we don't lose the other docks. Two of the docks are just hanging on, and if we lose them, the damage could multiply."

Three docks remain intact and were undamaged Tuesday night. The other docks had already been removed for the season.

The marina closed for the season on Oct. 15 and crews have been pulling the floating docks off of the river since then, Dougherty said, though for budgetary reasons, the work is only done on weekends. Removing each of the docks, which jut out into the river, takes six to eight hours, he said.

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Had the storm held off for another week or two, all of the docks would have been removed, Dougherty said. Only four boats remained moored at the marina when the storm hit, and none of the boats were lost.

Smaller docks that form the slips at the marina had already been removed, he said.

According to the National Weather Service, nearly two inches of rain fell at Allegheny County Airport in West Mifflin on Monday. But parts of Fayette and Somerset counties and Western Maryland received 4 or 5 inches of rain, according to data from the NWS's Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service.

A weather spotter in Markleysburg, Fayette County, told the NWS that borough received 5 inches of rain, while another spotter in Frostburg, Md., reported 6 inches. The Youghiogheny River is fed by streams and creeks in Fayette, as well as by the Casselman River, which flows through Western Maryland.

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It wasn't the height of the Yough that caused the problems for the docks, Dougherty said. "The docks are designed to float," he said. "Actually, the water level was higher during Hurricane Ivan."

According to the USGS data, the river at Sutersville crested at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at about 17.5 feet, or more than two feet below flood stage.

Instead, Dougherty said, it was the speed of the water. "I have never, ever seen it like this," he said Tuesday night.

According to USGS data, water flow at Sutersville peaked Tuesday morning at 34,800 cubic feet per second. At this time of year, the water typically flows at about 1,130 to 1,450 cubic feet per second.

USGS data indicates that although the stream flow has gone above 34,800 cubic feet per second in the past, it usually happens during spring thaws. The previous record flow for the Yough at Sutersville on Oct. 30 was 7,490 cubic feet per second, set in 1974.

A stream flow above 34,800 has happened only three times in October since 1921. The most recent occasion was a flood on Oct. 16, 1954, when stream flow topped 108,000 cubic feet per second following Hurricane Hazel.


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The marina has been damaged before. On Jan. 31, 2001, an ice jam broke loose on the Youghiogheny and completely destroyed the 4-year-old marina, which then had semi-rigid docks that could not be removed in the winter.

Repairs cost more than $1 million and took more than a year. The floating, removable docks were installed at that time.

"The biggest concern for us is always winter weather and ice," Cherepko said. "This storm is just not a typical storm for this part of the country at this time of the year."

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Although the river's flow was slowing down Tuesday night, Dougherty said it will be several days before conditions are safe for workers to attempt to remove the other docks.

At least a few of the support poles that anchor the docks in place also appear to be damaged, he said.

Once the river returns to normal, Cherepko said, the city will evaluate the damage and make plans to repair the marina.

"We don't want this to hinder the boating season," he said. "We will do everything we can to expedite the process so that we'll be up and running."

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Power outages, downed trees, damaged roofs and flooded roads and basements were reported across the Mon-Yough area, but Cherepko noted that the region appeared to have dodged the worst of Tropical Storm Sandy, which has been blamed for more than a dozen deaths and billions of dollars in property damage on the East Coast.

"It's a shame that this (marina damage) happened, but in the grand scheme of things, there were no injuries and no deaths," the mayor said. "We escaped most of the wrath of this storm."

(This is a developing story and is being updated with new information as it becomes available.)

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