TROUT RUN, Pa. — Tropical Storm Debby left behind a muddy mess of destruction to homes and businesses in the Trout Run area. Newswatch 16 caught up with people cleaning up the damage left behind.
"If you see behind me there like everything—that's her back porch. It's kind of suspended there, and everything down through, you know, the fire station, we're still waiting on the surveys for that, but right now, a big portion of that has been condemned by the engineers until we can get further structural," said Bob Whitford volunteer firefighter at Trout Run Volunteer Fire Company.
Bob Whitford says his mom has been living in her home in Trout Run for over 50 years. After remnants of Tropical Storm Debby passed through, her basement was filled with seven feet of water and a foot of mud. As a volunteer firefighter at the Trout Run Volunteer Fire Company, Whitford says his Mom's home is just one of the many homes and businesses that suffered significant damage.
"Now what'll happen is the local government people will go out, fill out the surveys that need to be submitted to Lycoming County, and then Lycoming County then works with pema, who works with FEMA and to see what kind of funds that hopefully we can get for these people that need help like my mother."
The Trout Run United Methodist Church sustained significant damage as well.
"We were never flooded before since 1897 like this and it was above the counters in here, our house got ruined, all the systems are down, so it's not good," said Michael Toran, Trout Run United Methodist Church treasurer.
Natural gas companies like EQT have been helping the church with water removal and cleanup.
"They've been pumping this for two days now, jcs towing over there they've been pumping out too, they've had like 6 pumps on it for a long time now, we're down to a foot of mud we're trying to get our sub pumps going, but it's dangerous with the electric you know so we're working on it, but they're professionals they know what they're doing," said Troan.
Flash flooding from Tropical Storm Debby also wiped out a bridge along Route 14 in Trout Run.
According to PennDOT, that stretch of Route 14 is expected to be closed for about a week and a half, while repairs are made.