x
Breaking News
More () »

Flood of 2011 Remembered in Bloomsburg

BLOOMSBURG — It’s been four years since people’s lives were turned upside down in the flood of September 2011. One community hit especially ha...

BLOOMSBURG -- It's been four years since people's lives were turned upside down in the flood of September 2011. One community hit especially hard was Bloomsburg.

Wednesday was a warm, sunny day in Bloomsburg, so people spent time outside. It was a lot different from what it looked like four years ago, when water covered the streets and filled houses. The flood of September 2011 destroyed homes, possessions, and turned people's lives upside down.

Bonny McCabe of Bloomsburg was looking at pictures of the damage when Newswatch 16 showed up.

"Mud was everywhere. It was just disgusting. It was sad and I lost everything," McCabe said.

In this story

Tim Crane says he remembers the flood like it was yesterday. He lived in Berwick at the time and was a firefighter.

"Doing basement pump-outs. Everything from disasters in the developments up there, helping people get back into their homes. It was devastating," Crane said.

There are "for sale" signs up all over Bloomsburg.

"You know the old saying 'the 100 year flood'? Well it seems like the flood comes around a lot more often than that. So a lot of people have given up because they've been through it two, three times and it's not worth it," Doug Reiter said.

But McCabe says she does not want to leave Bloomsburg.

"I'm a little afraid it's going to happen again but we'll have to see. But I love my house," McCabe said.

In addition to homeowners being affected, officials with the Bloomsburg Fair remember 2011 all too well.

"All the mud on the midways, in the grass. It was nothing but a swamp," Bill Barratt said.

The Bloomsburg Fair was canceled in 2011. One of the fair supervisors says this is the year the fair will finally make back the money that was lost. He says everything fair officials do, they think flood. Fair officials say they now put important things up high and many items are kept off the fairgrounds.

Before You Leave, Check This Out