There is no state or federal funding available for residents of McAdoo to clean up after the flash floods of Memorial Day weekend.
Borough Secretary Diane Minneci said the flood damage, while significant to affected residents and business owners, was not wide-spread and catastrophic enough to meet federal and state disaster relief guidelines.
"Unfortunately, we weren't hit hard enough," Minneci said of the guidelines.
McAdoo was one of numerous communities in Schuylkill, Luzerne and Carbon counties that sustained flash flood damage May 26 when a nearly stationary line of thunderstorms stalled over the region, bringing rain that fell at the rate of 3 or more inches per hour.
Flash flood waters rose to depths of 3 to 4 feet in a six-block section of McAdoo. The most severe flooding encompassed an area from Blaine Street to Sherman Street, and from Cleveland Street to Kennedy Drive, which is state Route 309 in the borough. Homes and businesses outside the impact area also sustained water infiltration problems, but to a lesser degree.
The damage may not have reached disaster-declaration status, but homeowners like Maryellen Davis suffered financial loss and spent many hours cleaning mud and damaged possessions out of her basement.
On the day of the flood, Davis' basement filled with water that was 8 feet deep, submerging her coal heating system, a large-screen television, an oak entertainment unit, a barbecue grill and gas lawn mower, and other possessions.
Davis submitted an insurance claim and is awaiting a determination.
In the meantime, she hauled a virtual mountain of waterlogged possessions out of her basement and piled the debris at curbside for trash collection.
"I've been bleaching and cleaning for two weeks and I can still smell it," Davis said Friday of the lingering musty smell of floodwater.
She estimates her personal loss at about $5,000.
"I used to love the sound of the rain. I would lay in bed and listen to it hitting the roof," Davis said. "Now when it starts raining I think, 'Oh, God, I hope it doesn't flood again.' "
For borough residents and others affected by the flash floods to receive federal aid, President Barack Obama must declare a disaster.
"It's very doubtful that we're going to get the president's signature to declare it a disaster," Minneci said. "Was it as bad as Hurricane Katrina? No, it was not."
At the state and local levels, the Small Business Administration makes low-interest loans available to homeowners, renters, businesses and private, nonprofit organizations to repair or replace real estate, personal property, machinery and equipment, inventory and business assets that have been damaged or destroyed in a declared disaster.
But McAdoo wasn't declared a disaster on the state level, either.
"The impact statewide was not severe enough. Not enough citizens were impacted," Minneci explained.
To qualify for disaster aid, Minneci said three criteria must be met: the affected resident or business must be uninsured, 25 or more homes or businesses must be affected, and the cost of the damage must equal 40 percent or more of the property value.
Minneci said she was not aware of any affected home or business owners that were not insured.
"Those with insurance were asked to submit claims to their insurance company before applying for disaster aid, so nobody qualified there," Minneci said.
With about 35 homes and businesses receiving pump assistance from local fire companies to get sewage and heating fuel-tainted floodwater out of basements, Minneci said the borough exceeded the 25-property minimum on the number of homes that must be affected for disaster aid. But that's only one of the three mandatory criteria.
"I think we met that one, but you have to meet all three," she said.
Minneci said there were no reports of homes sustaining damage that exceeded 40 percent of the home value either.
"If you have a home valued at $100,000 it has to have $40,000 or more in damages and we didn't have anything like that," she said.
On Friday, in a yard in the Cleveland Street neighborhood, a man was sorting through water-damaged possessions and stacking what is now trash.
He declined to give his name but said he hauled 2,600 pounds of flood garbage to a landfill the weekend after the flood.
Borough officials arranged for extra bulk item trash hauling in the aftermath, and the veterans of VFW Post 6708 of McAdoo provided dinner for firefighters the night of the flood.
"Some people are still cleaning up," borough councilwoman Mary Labert said.
"I just hope it never rains like that again," councilwoman Marion DeBalko said.