MOUNT CARMEL, Pa. -- In Northumberland County, heavy downpours on Monday forced one borough to issue a state of emergency.
The mayor of Mount Carmel made the decision, citing numerous flash floods that forced water into homes and even damaged streets.
With a brief break in the soaking downpours, Mount Carmel officials gathered at the intersection of West Fourth and South Beech streets Monday afternoon to inspect the damage done to the road.
The mayor says water surged through the sewer system, forcing manhole covers off and buckling the concrete above.
People living near the intersection came out to watch as water rushed by, causing even more damage.
“Like 6 o'clock this morning and I woke up, and you could see water running down here like a river going. The ground was eroding and manholes were lifting and it's pretty crazy,” said Buddy Lyden. “It looked like a mini earthquake hit the way the ground buckled and it's pretty crazy.”
“Oh, it was horrible, absolutely horrible, I haven't seen rain like that in years,” said Jonathan Weidow.
Numerous houses in the borough had basements and cellars flooded.
“A lot of this stuff's going to have to get thrown away,” said Thomas Pappas. “It's wet, damp. I have to wait until it dries out better, and baseball cards, ton of them.”
“I put my feet in water, trekked through the basement, up over the furnace. It was a mess. It was a bad morning,” said Weidow.
All this water in the borough had the mayor declaring a state of emergency.
“We called a state of emergency because we didn't know what we're going to need. We don't know how much more water we're going to get, anything like that,” said Mayor Philip Cimino. “We had flash flooding. We have basements that are flooded.”
Borough officials say they're doing what they can to help residents out, including having the fire department pump out flooded basements. They're asking homeowners to do something to help themselves.
“Contact their insurance company if they've seen flooding in their homes so we can get the ball rolling with that,” said Cimino.
Mount Carmel officials said crews are expected to be at that damaged intersection on Tuesday to start repair work.