City of Erie Flooding
June 30, 2009, 5:10 pm
Heavy rains caused extensive flooding in the City of Erie. CLICK FOR VIDEO This afternoon, Mayor Joe Sinnott declared a disaster emergency because of the flooding. The flooding caused extensive street flooding stranding drivers, closing many streets and leaving many homes and some businesses flooded. Mayor Sinnott said, "It is very bad. When you have residential streets flooded it is as bad as I have seen it." City firefighters rescued several stranded drivers, including Carol Frantz who was removed from her stalled vehicle in the flooded intersection of West 32nd and Plum. She said, "I tried to come down the road. It was flooded. the water came over and I was stuck." The flooding also caused extensive basement flooding. Homeowner Lou Bruschi had a lot of water in the basement of his home along Glenwood Park Avenue. He said, "It will take us two days just to take everything out and the cleanup will take us weeks." Some homes also had sewage back up into their basements. One hard hit area was the 500 block of East 37th Street. Homeowner Donna Whitford said, "The last time we had this it was supposed to be the 100 year flood. Well the 100 year flood is back and I have two-and-a-half feet of raw sewage in my basement."
