Flooding at Curwensville Lake Cancels Event; Heavy Debris, Cleanup Expected

Pav.5 — The peak of the roof at Pavilion 5, where the Conservation Celebration was set to be held. (Photo provided by Susan Reed)

CURWENSVILLE – High water and flooding at the Curwensville Lake Recreation Area caused a weekend event to be cancelled on Saturday.

The Clearfield County Conservation District’s annual Conservation Celebration was slated to run from 11-3 p.m. at the CLRA. Susan Reed, CCCD district manager, said they were in contact with the Army Corps of Engineers throughout the latter part of last week. There was a belief that since it didn’t rain Thursday night, there was no danger of flooding.

Reed said when they arrived Saturday morning to set up for the Conservation Celebration, they were amazed at how high the water was. Reed said as they were discussing moving the event to a different area at the grounds, they noticed the water was getting higher.

“We had no choice but to cancel the Celebration,” said Reed. “Since the lake was a flurry of activity as the marina was evacuated, we felt that the entire area was unsafe for a group of children.”

Reed wanted to stress that the Army Corps of Engineers was on top of the situation, but they did not expect a storm cell to stall upriver over Mahaffey.

“Watching that water rise so rapidly really made you realize that despite all our gauges and calculations, Mother Nature is still in charge,” commented Reed. “And all that water in the recreation area would have been in folks homes had it not been for the dam.”

Reed, also a member of the Curwensville Lake Authority, said there are picnic tables floating in the lake and lot of debris is expected to be left behind once the water goes down.”It’s springtime cleanup all over again,” said Reed.

To view more photos of the flooding, check out GantDaily’s Facebook page.

(All photos provided by Susan Reed)