Aug 4, 2017 2 min read

North Franklin Township municipal building is closed until further notice because it sustained heavy damage during flash flooding a week ago.

The July 28 flood sent rushing water more than a foot deep into the building, damaging carpeting and wiping out the township’s computers, Supervisor Ron Junko said Friday.

“It was like a river,” Junko said, adding many houses in the area also had water in their basements during the heavy rainstorm.

“Everybody in this area got hit bad, even new houses,” he said.

The water also created a small sinkhole at a drain in the parking lot at the municipal building at 620 Franklin Farms Road.

“That water came down through there, and it ripped up the parking lot like a piece of cake,” Supervisor Silvio Passalacqua said.

Early estimates have the cleanup and repair costs at $12,000, excluding the damages to the parking lot and replacing the computers, he said.

The township hired a company to remove carpeting from the one-story brick building, and large fans were in place Friday to dry out the floors and walls.

The township hasn’t opened a temporary office, and supervisors have relocated their meeting at 4 p.m. Tuesday to the local fire department at 565 Sylvan Drive.

“We are going to talk about what it’s going to cost us to get out of this mess,” Passalacqua said.