BLOOMSBURG -- Community leaders broke ground on a flood protection project in the town's west end, with umbrellas protecting them from rain.
A look at this neighborhood in September 2011, shows what can happen with no protection from the flood waters of the nearby Susquehanna River and Fishing Creek.
"It's everything," said Tim Hockney, the vice president of the Autoneum plant on West Fifth Street, which will be protected by a flood wall under the new flood protection system.
Autoneum makes carpets for new cars and SUVs.
Hockney says even brief plant shutdowns caused by flooding can be devastating.
"You really don't have a long-term future. Automotive is just-in-time. You are supplying vehicles just in time as car makers are building them."
The plant is a block from the Susquehanna River, and because of a history of flooding, Autoneum several years ago moved its manufacturing to the upper floors for protection.
Still, the flood of 2011 forced this plant to be shut down for a month.
The new flood protection plan calls for one-mile of flood wall, between four and 14 feet high, to protect Autoneum, and the now-closed Windsor Foods plant.
"The dream was to have a full flood wall here," said State Senator John Gordner, who district includes Bloomsburg.
For 22 years, Senator Gordner pushed to bring the kind of levee that protects Wilkes-Barre to Bloomsburg. But it never came together.
So local leaders are now looking at smaller flood protection plans.
Gordner believes this one could bring a new business to the former Windsor Food Plant and ensure Autoneum's future by reducing flood risks.
"We needed to do everything possible to keep these manufacturing jobs here." said Sen. Gordner. "They just could not weather another flood."
Construction on the flood wall is now underway, and the flood control project for the west end of Bloomsburg is expected to be finished by the end of next year.
The $30 million project is being paid for by federal money, state casino dollars, and with $2 million from Autoneum.