A lot of people remember the flooding from hurricane Isabelle in 2003 was a lot higher on the south end of HdG than what we had this week. That really didn't count in these records. I think that is because that flooding was caused by a storm surge coupled with a high lunar tide that came up the bay rather than flood waters coming down the Susquehanna. The end result was the same for those of us who had to clean up the mess left behind ;-)

I agree, Steve: Isobel waters were much higher in HdG and Port, and there was significantly more damage. This just highlights the fact that the Conowingo Dam is not the only influence.

I believe there was major over reaction to this event, for example: the mandatory evacuations, the removal of patients from the nursing homes, etc.

A tropical storm with a south or south easterly wind will do far more damage, and create higher waters than 50 open dam gates could produce. Even during Agnes the water only just touched the easterly wall of the Citizens Nursing Home.

Hindsight, John ;-) ....... You have to figure in the following scenario that COULD'VE been faced by the 'decision makers'. Visualize a court-room and an attorney asking the defendant 'decision maker' ... "why did you think, with all of the flood warnings issued, that it was prudent to ignore the safety of [fill in the blank]??..."
I'm glad I wasn't the person who had to decide but it takes a loooong time to safely transport 100+ nursing home residents.
The good news is the 'decision makers' over-reacted....... in hindsight.

I suspect the "decision makers" also had the worst case scenario in the back of their minds - the potential collapse of an aging dam. It may have been overkill this time, but comforting that these folks had the courage to make tough and "expensive" decisions.

Did people with boats and businesses on the river know Friday morning that the river crested on Friday pre-dawn and the dam was closing gates?

We could see that the water wasn't getting any higher. Even by the NWS charts you could see the flooding tapering off. Of course, without any official statements we didn't know if the slow-down was a temporary thing or if the river had crested, since all the reports were still saying the crest was either Friday night or Sat. morning.

Thanks, Becky. Guess it's water under the bridge, now. Auto sightseeing traffic downtown Friday to see the "cresting" river looked, in the words of one friend, like "Second Friday" in HdG.