Gov. Wolf takes tour of storm damage
Governor seeks federal disaster declaration for SE Pennsylvania
BRIDGEPORT >> Gov. Tom Wolf returned to the area this week to survey damage from the remnants of Hurricane Ida.
Last week, he was in Upper Dublin Township as he observed damage from an EF-2 tornado that ripped through the area. On Wednesday, he visited Bridgeport.
“This is devastating,” Wolf said Wednesday as he addressed members of the media during a press conference.
The borough was rocked as floodwaters poured through the area on Sept. 1, as the rain came down through the late afternoon, evening and overnight hours. The nearby Schuylkill River in Norristown had crested at roughly 26 feet on Sept. 2, according to figures from the National Weather Service.
“We are used to the water rising, but never like this. Nothing like I’ve ever seen in my life, let alone in Bridgeport,” said Bridgeport Mayor Mark Barbee, a 10-year resident of the borough.
“I am thankful that there wasn’t greater loss of life. When you hear some of the stories of the water rising into the house[s], it’s scary,” said Montgomery County Commissioners’ Vice Chairman Ken Lawrence Jr.
Local, state and federal officials accompanied the governor along his tour of the Montgomery County borough.
“Thank you for looking at Bridgeport and looking at the devastation, the incredible losses here,” said U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-4th Dist. “It’s hard to even describe as you know.”
Bridgeport Police Chief Todd Bereda told Wolf of the hundreds of residents impacted by the storm. More than 500 people were displaced as a result of the storm, according to Bereda, who added there were roughly 300 evacuations carried out, of which 75 were conducted by way of swift water rescue.
“There were several boats here, and they helped all the people that either couldn’t or didn’t decide to evacuate at that time,” he said.
Four Montgomery County residents also died, one of which was from Bridgeport. Jack Caroluzzi, 65, was found dead Sept. 2 at his home, according to a statement from a county spokesperson released by the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office. A county spokesperson said last week that the “cause of death is pending investigation and the manner of death is also pending.”
As the clean-up process progressed, Bereda said that “262 tons of trash” was cleared in the days following the storm.
“So the cleaner streets that you see today are nowhere near what actually happened,” he told Wolf.
Pennsylvania’s governor walked through Bridgeport where he saw piles of discarded items, damaged homes, mud residue and his constituents, residents and business owners, working to pick up the pieces.
“Well besides the fact that I lost my home, I lost my business,” said Bridgeport resident Laura Houck and owner of Frosty Falls Ice Cream.
“[I’ve] never seen anything like this,” she said. “It happened faster than the blink of an eye, and as quick as we could get everybody out it was still probably the scariest thing that’s ever happened in my life. I lost everything.”
Houck noted that members of her family living elsewhere in the county were not immune.
“My brother lost his house in Fort Washington,” she told Wolf. “My mother’s on the verge of just emotional destruction, but we’re alive, and we can clean this up. We just need help.”
Montgomery County leaders formalized an emergency disaster declaration Thursday that was issued last week. Others are calling for federal financial assistance as recovery efforts continue.
“We’re really pushing for the federal declaration of emergency,” Barbee said. “That’s what we need at this point.”
“We need federal relief here to PA,” Dean said.
Pennsylvania Emergency Management Director Randy Padfield said that teams have been out surveying affected areas throughout the region.
“So we have that information,” Padfield said. “That information’s been aggregated, and we’re working the process through right now for the official disaster declaration.”
Wolf called for higher action to assist the state and local areas impacted by the remnants of Hurricane Ida.
“I am requesting a federal disaster declaration because Pennsylvanians and our communities need and deserve critical support as they recover from significant damages to their homes and public infrastructure,” Wolf said in a statement issued Wednesday.
The extent of damages from last week’s storm are estimated to cost roughly $117 million, according to a statement from Wolf’s office, and the statewide “threshold” is set at $19.7 million.
“We believe we meet the federal government’s thresholds based on the damage assessments conducted so far, so this request is another necessary step in the process to recover from the impacts of this terrible storm,” he later said.
While there’s still much to be done, borough leaders acknowledged how the community really came together over the last week.
Bereda noted how a number of community leaders assembled a “mobile crisis [team] out here to help the folks,” and work to provide meals and shelter to those in need.
“Our hopes are [that] we can continue to protect these people that are the lowest income, the most displaced,” he said.
Additionally, more than 100 people have sought shelter at an American Red Cross shelter, which was set up at Norristown Area High School, located at 1900 Eagle Drive, in West Norriton Township.
“We’re still there. We started since day one and we’re still housing people today,” said Dave Skutnik, regional communications director for the American Red Cross Southeastern Pennsylvania.
Bereda also told Wolf how there were “about 400 meals brought in that day” from a number of local organizations including Wawa, Mom’s Meals and the Upper Merion Community Cupboard.
Additionally, others have helped to provide “upwards of 50 to 60 rooms” at 11 hotels, he said.
“The private organizations here rocked this,” Bereda said.
But for Barbee, it really does take a village to put Bridgeport back together.
“We’ve really been holding it down as a community, and really working with one another, and working with institutions, and local groups to get back on track,” Barbee told MediaNews Group.