Bruce A. Scruton|New Jersey Herald
With as much as 10 inches of rain forecast for parts of the Delaware River drainage area, the waterway and access points within the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area will most likely closeto the public Wednesday or Thursday, officials said.
The National Park Service has established a river level of 15 feet at the Montague gauge as the point at which closure takes place and with the predicted rainfall,the river will reach that point Thursday, rising to a predicted maximum of 18 feet.
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While the river is not expected to flow over its banks — flood state at Montague, the northern part of the park,is 25 feet. However, the Bushkill Creek and the Brodhead Creek at Minisink Hills in Pennsylvaniaare expected to reach flood stage Wednesday afternoon and into Thursday morning.
River levels are also rising along the Flatbrookwhich flows through the park on the New Jersey side of the river.
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"IDA is in the house, and she will be dropping some heavy rainfall throughout our area throughout the day and night," said park spokeswoman Kathleen Sandt on Wednesday.
She noted that the ground is already saturated by rains over the past week, so much of the rain falling from the remains of Ida will simply run into streams and creeks and into the river.
Also, the Delaware River's headwaters are in New York's Catskill Mountains so it will take a couple of days for runoff in those mountains to make it downstream.
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While the park uses the Montague gauge as its benchmark, there is also a federal gauge atTocks Island at the south end of the park, which ispredicted to rise more than 13 feet over the next 24 hours, cresting on Thursday at 20.9 feet. The flood stage at that gauge is 21 feet.
The river corridor and all access points are closed until river levels drop below 15 feet at the Montague gauge.
In addition to the river, Sandt also said there may be road closures because of flash flooding and downed trees and utility lines.She warned to notdrive over or approach downed power lines which may still be energized.
