Unity Township families still dealing with damages, loss after flooding

UNITY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Dumpsters continue to line the road in Dorothy Patch a month after flash flooding ravaged the area after heavy rainfall.

Families living here fear it could happen again if the rain does not subside, especially with a flood watch in effect until late Monday.

“When is it going to happen again? Is this going to happen all the time, especially when a hard rain comes down?” Susan Rine said.

“Everything we own on the first floor, if you just look around the house, everything that’s 4 foot below had to be thrown away, what would you have? Nothing.”

A month ago, flash flooding decimated Dorothy Patch in Unity Township.

All 42 homes were affected in some way.

Some could not be salvaged, and those rebuilding, like the Rines, have been torn down to just the framing.

The Rines have been staying in the basement of a friend’s home for the past month.

“It’s so hard. We have nothing. Everything on the first floor had to be thrown out. We’re a month out and we’re still homeless.”

The Rines have flood insurance, but it is not covering everything.

They are out the cost of all of their personal belongings.

“The crawl space has debris in it still, it has sewage and oil all over it, we’re not leaving it in the house. We still have spots of mold. Our son cannot be around mold at all,” Rine said.

“Unfortunately, not all the homes are going to be there when they go back. Some have been condemned,” Lloydsville Fire Department President Lt. David Vogle said.

A month later, local first responders with Lloydsville Fire Department continue to check on their neighbors and plan to go door to door with donated gift cards to get them back on their feet and back in their homes.

“What we have remaining were actually going to give them in home improvement stores, so they can try to get appliances, washer and dryers, stoves, stuff like that, that got destroyed,” Vogle said.

Most families who have roots here vowed to weather the renovations and stay.

“We plan on rebuilding and staying. We’re not planning on moving out, but I just want to move back home. That’s where I’m at… the normalcy of life, just the smell of your house it’s the things you miss,” Rine said.

There is still a lot of help coming from the township and the state like low-interest loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration.

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