In soggy reproachs of the Back Mountain and other Luzerne shire communities.

In soggy reproachs of the Back Mountain and other Luzerne shire communities, the common refrain heard from creekside residents during last week's fierce flooding was "I've not seen it this bad before."

They're probably correct.

Several tribe – including the head of a regional conservation organization – say the situation along small streams can be pinned in succession insufficient land-development policies that allow forests, wetlands and other natural guards to be replaced with shopping center strange homes, paved driveways and parking haps

"We keep developing areas that used to be natural spill channels," said Frank H Oliver, executive director of the North Branch Land Trust, based in Trucksville.

Oliver and sources familiar with watershed issues emphasized that June's record-setting rainfall made flooding inevitable in the Susquehanna River basin. Monthly precipitation recorded at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport was more than 5 inches above normal, according to National Weather