CLEARFIELD – It’s not often in life that you lose your car and consider yourself lucky.
But that is how I feel today. It’s Sunday. Just three days ago Clearfield was hit with a downpour that lasted over an hour. This brought a raging river down my street that greatly impacted the lives of my neighbors.
Among those most affected was Sara Zeigler, who moved into her home only a year ago. She was at the point in her life where she was downsizing, and she told me she was thinking her next move would be to a graveyard.
Sara lost all the new appliances and furniture she bought for the new place. As I spoke with her, friends and family members were busy trying to clean and salvage what they could. In the kitchen, Sara’s refrigerator was lying on its side as evidence to the power of the water that rushed into her home.
She didn’t realize anything was happening that night until she heard a fuel tank hit the side of her house. When she looked outside, she saw her yard was already flooded with water up to the top of her porch, she told me.
She woke her son, grabbed her dog and they waited for rescue that came in the form of a kayak. The water was dangerous enough that her rescuers put a life vest on her before helping her over her porch railing into the boat.
Sara was renting her home and her landlord is unsure as to whether he will replace the building or not.
“I’m doomed,” she commented to me. In addition to her belongings, Sara and her son lost their vehicles. Without her car, she is not sure how she can continue to work as a caregiver.
While we talked on Friday, one of her family members let her know they had found another one of her large flower pots that had floated down the street.
The area around her home and the other buildings near that corner is now covered in a deep, wet, very slippery coating of mud.
“It’s pretty sickening,” she told me adding that she had never seen anything like this in all her “70 some years”.
Another resident lost not only his truck but several vehicles and motorcycles he had in his garage along with the other things stored there. If the foundation of the building is damaged, he might tear the whole thing down.
Just up the street, another family’s basement filled with water almost up to the first floor that night. It took hours for the fire department to pump it out and the next day they still had some water there. They lost everything that was in the basement and everything stored in their garage.
As with most residents in this part of town, they did not have flood insurance. The only relief may come if the government declares the area an actual disaster and releases funds for recovery.
My street seems to have been one of the ones that suffered the most damage making this a spot for live news broadcasts and sightseers.
I’m lucky.
My car was my biggest casualty. As the water surrounded and engulfed it, I could only watch helplessly. Because my house sits up a bit higher than the others, I only had about a foot of water in my basement that may have damaged my washer, dryer and furnace. I’ll know for sure once it dries out and I feel it is safe to try to turn them on again. Still, I’m lucky.
Thursday’s storm seemed like any other until it seemed we were stuck in a perpetual downpour. After about an hour, I looked out to see a car stopped on the street and first saw the river that had formed.
Being a reporter, I ran out to take a photo. I was facing Weaver Street and stunned at what was happening. Then I turned around toward Williams Street and gasped. My neighbor’s big truck was almost engulfed in the water.
It was still pouring as I took the photo that I later sold to news outlets. If you have seen that picture, you only know part of the horror, because it got worse after that. I wasn’t able to get good photos because it was getting dark.
To add a bit of irony, as I was standing outside hoping the water would stop before it damaged my car, my phone went off with a text alert warning me of flash flooding. Thanks for that. It made me laugh.
While I was worried about my own vehicle, I saw the truck slowly disappear and then float downstream into the vehicles at Sara’s home. At this point, the others out on the street with me were all talking about getting her out of there. Eventually someone with a kayak was able to get to them and we all sighed in relief.
In my later photos, you can see a yellow shed that was shifted by the water and now resides in the street.
The scariest part of the evening for me was when the dryer in my basement that was flooding, started buzzing and wouldn’t stop. The firefighters recommended that the power be shut off before anyone went down there. Later the dryer stopped and I think the sound was from it shorting out. The vehicles floating in the water also shorted out with blinking lights their last sign of life.
I was told that I should evacuate but because of my pets I wanted to stay. They warned me of the danger of a fire, but I still didn’t feel I could leave.
Eventually the water began to recede and it was not necessary to pump my basement out after all. A Penelec worker came later asking if I needed the power shut off, but I had him just shut it off for a few moments while I unplugged my washer and dryer and cut the power to the furnace.
When I heard there was a home that had an explosion after their power was restored I was shocked.
I’m lucky.
My clean up has been simpler than the others who carry item after item to the dumpster that is now part of our street.
It seems nothing will ever be the same here.