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Carpet Donations Help Flood Victims

BLOOMSBURG–When flooding from Tropical Storm Lee damaged thousands of homes in our area last year, people were left with the task of rebuilding.  A compan...

BLOOMSBURG--When flooding from Tropical Storm Lee damaged thousands of homes in our area last year, people were left with the task of rebuilding.  A company in Columbia County helped more than 300 homeowners by donating $1 million worth of carpet to flood victims.

Gerald Devlin looked at pictures of what his house in Bloomsburg looked like one year ago. His home on forest road was almost unrecognizable after last year's flood.

"It ended up being 52 inches of water inside our home. So it destroyed the entire downstairs," Devlin said.

But now one year later, this room in Devlin's house has brand new carpet, thanks to Bloomsburg Carpet Industries.

"There was such devastation and such need and carpet was a logical thing people needed," Marty Bowman said.

After last year's flood, Bloomsburg Carpet Industries helped people whose houses were damaged by offering them up to 75 square yards of free carpet.

More than 300 people from Bloomsburg to Elysburg to Shikshinney applied to get carpet. The staff at Bloomsburg Carpet Industries did not turn anyone away.

"Within ten days they had us there at the plant selecting carpet. We were only two by fours and concrete so they stored it for three months for us," Devlin said.

Bloomsburg Carpet Industries is just outside town, and was not affected by the flood. The company wanted to do something to help the community.

"Overwhelming for even us to see the amount of people and what they're going through. It was nice to be able to help them in a way," Jane Edivan said.

"We got a lot of positive feedback from it and people said it really helped them out a lot," Bowman said.

In all, Bloomsburg carpet industries donated more than 21,000 square yards of carpet, worth about $1 million to people affected by the flood of 2011.

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