LUZERNE COUNTY, Pa. — Businesses at the Luzerne County Fair had a tough go of it due to severe storms on Thursday and then again on Saturday. The fair never opened for its final day on Sunday.
The fair, which is a nonprofit, is looking at the cost of repairing damage.
Early estimates say it will be at least $500,000 to restore infrastructure at the fair, and that number gets bigger as we look at the damage in the surrounding area.
Some roads remain closed in Luzerne County's Back Mountain area. Lake Street in Dallas Township couldn't withstand Saturday's rainfall.
"It eroded the ditch and the underside of the road, washing all that material that was the road base down the road, and it's now deposited on top of the asphalt, and you can see a large section of that road base and the asphalt is now laying five, six feet deep," said Dallas Township EMA Director Alan Pugh.
Pugh says there was no road in the township that didn't need attention after the storms.
"It just overwhelmed many of our capabilities to move water and took its toll on our area roads."
And now the township and its limited budget face problems, including a damaged bridge.
"While it looks pretty simple, (it's) probably get to $100,000 plus to fix this in permanent fashion correctly."
The cost to repair the infrastructure at the Luzerne County Fairgrounds is also high. Stormwater drainage systems failed, and canyons are now where rain ditches used to be, making serious work necessary.
"We had an engineering team come out Sunday to take a preliminary look. Their estimates to have it fixed exceed half a million dollars at this point. And that's assuming we don't find further damages."