Saturday, March 13, 2010

Wind and water weather watch is posted for The Valley

UNDATED – Parts of The Valley could experience some flooding this weekend. Heavy rains, combined with snowmelt (to our north and west) and saturated ground—are the ingredients for a flooding potential.

Flood watches are posted through the Central Susquehanna Valley and creeks and streams are already rising. Today, an additional 1 to 2 inches of rain is expected with more possible in some areas.  

Currently, the river at Sunbury is at about 13 feet and rising slowly. The river’s north and west branches have both risen several feet since yesterday. At Danville, Bloomsburg, Lewisburg and Milton, continued rises in the Susquehanna River are expected, but all crests are expected a few feet below flood stages. Flood watches are posted in our region, but flood warnings are up in the western half of Pennsylvania.

At Sunbury, the river is expected to crest at about 21.7 feet on Monday, below the 24’ flood stage, but nearly high enough to close Route 11 between Northumberland and Shamokin Dam. Additionally today, high winds could have an impact. Wind speeds are anticipated at 25 to 40 miles per hour. As of 5a.m. Saturday, our area received ¼” to ¾” of rain. (Mark Lawrence)

Union County streams, Susquehanna River to rise

LEWISBURG – Minor flooding is expected this weekend in Union County, and the National Weather Service has thus issued a flood watch for small streams and the Susquehanna River.  Union County Emergency Management Coordinator Michelle Troup says the two-and-a-half to three inches of rain expected will have an effect on local waterways. 

Troup says Penns Creek will rise to 6.8’ by Saturday night, but will likely stay more than a foot below flood stage.  Likewise, the Susquehanna River at Lewisburg will remain about 2’ below flood stage, but is expected to crest at about 14’ Saturday night. 

As of 6:30 p.m. Friday, Penns Creek was at about 3.5’, but rising slowly.  The Susquehanna River at Lewisburg was also rising slowly, and was measured at about 4.5’ Friday evening.  The Central Susquehanna does not currently face the same flood risks as the western portion of the state, as most local snow has already melted. Troup says residents of flood prone areas should remain alert for rising waters. (Matt Farrand) 

Geisinger researchers are looking for some problem drinkers

DANVILLE – Is consumption of alcohol causing problems in your life? Are you motivated to change, to curtail your alcohol dependence and get your life back on track? If you answer yes to those questions—you might be able to help yourself and help Geisinger researchers, and potentially help problem drinkers around the world.

The National Institutes of Health has funded national study, which is being conducted at Geisinger, as well as at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital. The prime researcher is the goal of the research is to find out genetically—why certain drugs used to treat alcoholism work well in some people and not as well in others.

The psychiatrists at Geisinger Medical Center’s Henry Hood Center for Health Research are looking for people who are interested in participating in the study. First, they must decide if they are problem drinkers—if they are an alcoholic.

Then the subjects in the study have to decide to seek treatment, counseling and other methods to try to change their behavior. Like many efforts to help alcoholics, the motivation to change must exist before treatment can be successful. Then the people will undergo a blood draw, their genetic makeup will be analyzed, and then they will be given the drugs, which do help some alcoholics.

The doctors caution, that they are not testing new drugs—just why—genetically—some drugs in limited use already work well on some people and not on others. They also say they aren’t just distributing drugs that help people stop drinking, but rather they are studying why some drugs which do help some motivated alcoholics don’t help everyone.

For the people who get into the study, their travel expenses, medications, physical exams, lab work, EKG’s are all funded by the study. Call 866-219-5148 for more information. Click here to hear WKOK's stories now:

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