DURYEA -- The threat of Sandy comes roughly one year after last year’s historic floods that devastated several communities in our area, an event that people are still recovering from.
For Boy Scouts Chris Rizzo and Enrico Connors, they are taking their motto of always being prepared to the next level.
They were going door to door in Duryea handing out flyer, warning residents, of the potential damage Sandy could bring.
“We decided it would be a good thing to hand to the flyers because last year people didn’t know what to do for the flood,” said Rizzo.
“It’s really good to be prepared this year in case something does happen with this hurricane Sandy and we’re just trying to help out the borough by giving them an extra hand,” said Connors.
Just last September Duryea was left with several feet of water when Hurricane Irene, then Tropical Storm Lee pulled a double whammy on the borough, flooding out numerous homes and businesses.
For residents it’s seems like yesterday.
“It’s too soon, only a year and month,” said John McGlynn “I’m a little nervous, everybody’s nervous I imagine, everybody should be nervous down this lower land down here now.”
“It seems like it was only a couple months ago where we went through this and we sat out here and watched the water come up and measured it every couple of hours,” said Mike Carnall.
And they aren’t the only ones.
In West Pittston, homeowner Doris Brady is still in the process of restoring her home after the first floor had to be gutted after the floods last September.
“You worry that it might happen again and there’s a strong possibility,” said Brady. “And just when you see progress, I’m just getting the kitchen done, the bathrooms are done and it’s things I can’t move, I can’t move my appliances.”
Still the floods of last year were a hard learning lesson for many and with that knowledge comes the understanding that everyone needs to be ready for anything to happen.
“Some people don’t even know what’s going on and we’re trying to make everybody aware what’s going on,” said Duryea Emergency Management Director Frank Gorblewski. “We’ll be here at the borough building tomorrow, we’ll be here Monday, we’ll be here Tuesday, until it’s all over.”