Apr 10, 2024 By Mark Hofmann and Mike Jones 3 min read

Brownsville residents affected by last week’s flooding may be eligible for help from the state, depending upon how severely their homes were damaged.

“The borough and myself are trying to do as much as we can for the residents,” said Jordan Sealy, the emergency management coordinator in the borough. “It’s a tough situation, but we’ll get through it.”

Sealey said the hardest hit area was Water Street, where a survey from the borough’s fire department found that 23 homes were flooded.

Bill Flick was out Tuesday morning power washing the steps leading up to the side door of his house at 1506 Water St. after four feet of water came into the basement last week. He said the flooding on April 2 and 3 was worse than when it last happened in 2018, and it has been a perpetual problem over the years.

“I couldn’t believe how fast it came back,” Flick said of how the fire department pumped the water from his basement on April 2, but it flooded again the following day. “Everything is gonna need to be replaced.”

Sealy said the initial damage paperwork for all of the flooded homes was submitted to the Fayette County Emergency Management Agency (FCEMA) last week. Once FCEMA receives paperwork from other municipalities that had flooding-related damage, the agency will forward the paperwork to the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA).

It will be up to PEMA to determine if the level of damages meet the criteria for assistance. Sealy cautioned that it will be a lengthy process, and there is no guarantee the state agency will help repair damaged homes.

He said funding is typically available for catastrophic damage, like a home being moved from its foundation. Something like basement flooding doesn’t meet the criteria for funding because homeowners insurance would cover it, Sealy said.

Flick said in addition to his residence, the neighboring duplex apartment he rents out was also heavily damaged when water pushed up from basement drains.

He expects his duplex sustained more than $16,000 in damage, while his home received about $4,000 in damage. Those figures don’t include an estimated $3,500 to fix the electrical issues.

Flick is still waiting to hear back whether insurance will cover the repairs, which might take another 10 days to get a claim.

His home doesn’t have electricity – he was waiting on an electrician Tuesday morning while cleaning the steps – so he’s been staying in a camper parked behind his property.

“At least I got a place to stay that’s warm,” he said.

Sealy said borough officials will continue to communicate with affected residents, and push for state help.

“We’ll do whatever we can,” Sealy said.

He added that the biggest priorities now for the residents are the cleanup efforts, and replacing appliances destroyed by flood waters.

Like Flick, a few residents are still contending with the restoration of electric or gas. The former typically requires an electrician to inspect the property before restoring service, Sealy said. Gas customers also need a technician to come out to restore service, he said.

Meanwhile, Flick said he’ll continue what feels like a recurring cleanup effort..

“I’ve been flooded over and over again, and they’ve never fixed it,” he said.

Anyone who needs assistance or wants to provide help for those residents affected by flooding, can contact the borough building at 724-785-5761.