A single dad with water rising in his first floor apartment, grabs his ten year old son, gets in the car and drives to find higher ground. They lost everything. Even worse, his son has ongoing nightmares from the terror of that day.
One woman escapes her apartment as the water rushes in, only to realize that her cat is still inside. She has just enough time to run back in to rescue her cat, wading through water and debris, avoiding the floor boards bowing up from the damage.
These are just two of the many stories that Linda Frey and Paulette Obrecht heard as they helped register survivors of the July floods in Bucks County.
Most haunting was the familiar theme that many of the survivors shared. “I don’t know where we’re going to sleep tonight. We have no family in the area. We lost everything and have been evicted from our home now deemed unsafe due to water damage.”
Lutheran Disaster Response-Eastern Pennsylvania is already mobilizing teams to help. Last week, hundreds of residents came by Keystone Elementary School in Croyden, PA seeking help. Thanks to local churches and organizations, over 300 clean out buckets were distributed.
Based on the sign ups from last week’s coordinated efforts by multiple agencies to register people to get help, we estimate that approximately 100 families will need ongoing long-term recovery support. The costs will more than likely run in the hundreds of thousands.
Will you help those affected by the flooding in July? Your gift today means that Lutheran Disaster Response can connect survivors to resources they need to recover.
