The city of Pittsburgh in the summer of 2004. The beautiful blue sky is quite a contrast to the days of the "Steel City." The Fort Pitt Bridge rehabilitation is complete and the Parkway East ramps along the Monongahela River have recently been rebuilt. The Fort Duquesne Bridge is currently getting a facelift and soon will be covered by the same Aztec Gold paint as its sister bridge. The city will soon be blitzed by the twin blows of Hurricane Francis and Hurricane Ivan. The downgraded tropical storms dumped record amounts of rainfall on the city. Francis broke the single day record by dropping over three inches of rain, and a couple weeks later Ivan shattered that total with a deluge of almost six inches. River levels rose to 31 feet, almost 16 feet above flood level, and the downtown area became the scene of the "Flood of 2004".

* Photos by Justin Lauck *