Flooding causes damage across county
Wanda Cole stands on the porch of her house on WW Railroad Road. The house was damaged in Monday’s flooding.
The bridge on WW Railroad Road near Dillie Road damaged in Monday’s flood.
State Department of Transportation crews work on a bridge on WW Railroad Road near Pettit Road that was damaged in Monday’s flooding.
SWARTS – Wanda Cole watched as water from the creek rose to her front door Monday night. She called to her husband, Alfred, to move the truck and then quickly had to decide, she said, whether to move her car or hold the door shut to stop water from entering the house.
“It was either save my car or save my house. I decided to save my house. I’ve worked too hard for this,” she said Wednesday, as she stood outside the door of her recently-sided, two story house at 519 WW Railroad Road in Washington Township.
Heavy rain caused flash flooding about 5:30 p.m. in an area along two unnamed streams that run parallel to Dillie Road and Pettit Road. The streams flow under WW Railroad Road into Bates Fork Creek.
Two bridges on WW Railroad Road, at Dillie Road and Pettit Road, remained closed Wednesday, damaged by flood waters.
State Department of Transportation crews inspected the bridges and are developing a plan for repairs, PennDOT spokeswoman Valerie Petersen said. WW Railroad Road is closed at the bridges, though sections of the road are accessible from Dillie and Pettit roads.
Cole said the creek along Dillie Road flooded in the past, water reaching as high as the edge of the garage, but this time it was different.
“We’ve had high water before, but never like this,” she said. “This was coming up quickly.”
Cole said she braced herself against an inside wall to hold the door closed as the water rose about two feet against the door’s lower panel. Her husband and neighbors were outside on higher ground, but couldn’t reach her.
“The water was so widespread, going around the house, they couldn’t get across to me,” she said.
Cole held her position for what felt like 30 to 45 minutes, she said, though under the circumstances it was difficult to determine how long it was before the water began to recede and she could stop holding the door.
Her efforts in keeping the door closed to the water were rewarded, however.
Some water seeped around the edges of the door and covered the entrance and the dining room with only a “thin layer” of water, she said. An unfinished family room, laundry and office at a lower level had about two inches of water and was saved from more flooding by the door leading into the garage. The garage, however, filled with about three feet of water.
Though Cole’s husband was able to move the truck before the water got too deep, it was damaged by debris that washed down the creek and the car was filled with water. Tools and equipment in the garage also were lost or damaged.
Cole was at the house Wednesday cleaning up. Relatives, friends and neighbors have all pitched in to help, she said.
Insurance will cover some of the costs of the damage, Cole said.
“We’ll be OK,” she added. “It will just take a little work and a little patience.”
Across the street from Cole’s house, the Resurrection Bible Church, had about 3 ½ feet of water in its basement, the church’s pastor, Jeff Hughes, said. Hughes and several parishioners were cleaning up the basement Wednesday.
“The loss was not terrible, but we’re going to take a hit,” Hughes said.
Kitchen equipment and some furniture and possibly the furnace were damage, he said. The water did not reach the sanctuary.
Hughes said the church will hold services as planned on Sunday, though if the building is not cleaned sufficiently it might have to hold them outside at the pavilion.
Greg Leathers, director of Greene County Emergency Management, said he and others from his department had gone to the area Monday night to survey the damage.
The church and Cole’s house were the only structures he knew of that had water inside, he said. The flooding also impacted about 10 properties, damaging out buildings, driveways and private bridges crossing the stream, Leathers said.