Thomas Grubbs woke up on Monday, Aug. 3, checked the group chat and felt it in his stomach.
“Oh, I’m actually trapped,” he said. “Like, I can’t leave.”
Grubbs, 36, lives on a 50-foot houseboat at Diamond Beach Marina, at the end of Lock Way East, a narrow public street that drops off Allegheny River Boulevard, crosses a set of railroad tracks and dead-ends at the Allegheny River. The marina is home to around a dozen people year-round, plus a hub for others who spend leisure time or work there.
Lock Way East is the only way in or out by land, with ongoing construction blocking the access to Lock Way West from the marina. That Sunday, contractors for the Allegheny Valley Railroad closed the east crossing while working on track maintenance…