The flooding problem in Gilberton began Thursday after an early morning thunderstorm dumped approximately 3 inches of rain on the borough. Since then, the waters have continued to rise to approximately 10 feet filling basements and destroying the first floors of many homes in the borough.
Approximately 10 homes were evacuated prior to Saturday and 10 more were evacuated today. PPL also shut off power to most of the homes in the flooded area.
The change in flood waters early Saturday was thanks to two large pumps from New Jersey that went online in the borough.
Those two pumps have pushed tens of thousands of water through 12 inch pipes from the borough's flooded streets over the nearby railroad tracks and into the Mahanoy Creek.
As of 10:30am Saturday, the water had receded approximately 4 to 5 inches and another 4 to 5 by 5:00pm.
While the water is going to down, more problems arose Saturday as the ground beneath the nearby railroad tracks began to give way due to the pumping of the water.
According to Borough Officials, the Railroad Company that owns the tracks reached out to the borough and told them to stop pumping. An agreement was made later in the day after Mayor Hannon told the company they would not stop pumping.
Mayor Hannon is still fighting for the borough and putting the blame on the construction company working on the nearby bridge project for starting the flooding problem.
"This company knew about the problem in May, and did nothing about it. Now look where we are." said Hannon.
Hannon pointed out that the borough had an issue in May after a rain storm. It was determined that the drainage pipes put in during the project were too small and became clogged.
Hannon said "They basically built a dam on the Mahanoy Creek and once the pipes became clogged, the water had no where to go"
Hannon says that while the construction company has made some concessions, they haven't done enough.
Skook News will continue to update you as the situations change in the borough.
Story and Photos by J. Reed
