STORM AFTERMATH Golf course, residents' lawn among damage in flash flood

Officials are considering seeking federal aid for cleanup in the county.
By JOHN SKENDALLand NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITERS
PULASKI, Pa. -- "It looked like Niagara Falls."
Bill Heasley used that metaphor Monday after nearly losing his home Sunday in a washout that stopped traffic for five hours.
Heasley has lived for 20 years on a steep embankment. Sunday night, he and his wife, Debby, wondered if their house was going to join the 20 inches of topsoil that rolled from his front yard onto state Route 208.
Just down the road, an employee of Rolling Hills Golf Course used the same words to show why the flash flood left the course an upturned mess, requiring all available employees and several volunteers to put the course back into running order.
There were many victims of heavy rains in Lawrence County, where there were several road and bridge closings.
"We thought we were goners," Debby Heasley said as she stood in her now very short front yard overlooking the mud-covered road near where Route 208 crosses the Shenango River.
What was once a steep grassy hill up to their home is now a deep gouge, about 20 feet wide. Without sod to hold it back, the mud and dirt can now give way even easier.
Bill Heasley said they had planned on selling the house, but now they will first have to figure out how to stop the erosion.
The front yard is already too narrow to drive a car through. Heasley said he will have to contact the state, his insurance company and his lawyer to find a solution -- such as a retaining wall -- before it is too late.
Staying the course
At Rolling Hills Golf Course, the parking lot was full -- with vehicles belonging to the golf crew and generous helpers who set to work "squeegeeing" greens, sweeping sand back into the pits and rebuilding the collapsed bridges on holes 7 and 8.
The course opened its front nine in time for league play Monday night, but the back nine will be out of commission for a few more days, employees said.
Columbiana County officials, meanwhile, are considering seeking federal funds to pay for flood damage in western sections of the county. Officials spent much of Monday assessing damage from Sunday's flooding.
High water soaked areas in and around Hanoverton, in Hanover Township, and the area around Homeworth, a tiny unincorporated area in Knox Township.
Flooding forced roads to be closed and prompted officials to evacuate an undetermined number of residents from their homes.
"There may be some money there that can help people out," county Commissioner Jim Hoppel said about federal aid. Details on the amount of funding that may be sought, who might qualify for it and to what purpose it might be put were unavailable. County emergency management officials could not be reached.
Hoppel said he thinks the money could be used to help individuals to pay for cleanup and repairs. Money also may be available to aid local governments saddled with flood-related costs, he added. The cost of losses hasn't been estimated, Hoppel said.
Many basements were flooded. In one instance, a basement wall in a home in Hanoverton collapsed, Hoppel said. No injuries were reported.
Deputy county Engineer Bob Durbin said Monday afternoon that all county roads closed Sunday by flooding have been reopened, except for a section of County Home Road in Center Township. No significant damage was done to county roads, Durbin said. Engineer department crews were out Monday scraping off debris left on roads after waters receded.
American Red Cross officials visited flooded areas to provide snacks and cleanup supplies. Those affected by the floods may qualify for aid vouchers, said Ginger Grilli, director of the Northern Columbiana County Chapter of the American Red Cross, based in Salem. Anyone in the western section of the county may contact the Red Cross at (330) 332-0028.
jskendall@vindy.comleigh@vindy.com