CAMPBELL Residents clean up after flooding from rainfall damaged their homes

Water was 4 to 5 feet deep on some streets.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CAMPBELL -- Residents on the city's east side were cleaning up and moving back into their homes Saturday after several inches of rainfall between 9 p.m. and midnight Friday caused a flash flood.
No one was injured because of the deluge, but there was significant property damage.
The basement wall of a home on Pennhale Avenue collapsed, forcing the family, including a week-old baby and a 3-year-old, out of their home.
The Pennhale family, and two others in an apartment complex on Kendall Avenue at the bottom of Matawan Drive, were temporarily relocated with help from the American Red Cross, officials said.
Pool dislocated
An empty in-ground pool at the rear of a home on Almasy Drive, near Kendall, was heaved out of the ground by the force of the water.
Ron Williams of Almasy said he heard the pool creaking around 2 a.m. The deep end just floated up, he said.
Water was 4 to 5 feet deep on Kendall and streets that run into it, and numerous cars, with water up to their windows, were disabled and had to be towed.
The basement apartments of two four-plex apartment buildings on Kendall were flooded with 12 to 18 inches of water, said the owner, Jerry Bennett of Bath, Ohio.
Bennett said he planned to relocate the tenants until their apartments can be cleaned and repaired.
Toy story
Quick thinking by Cheryl and Gary Abeid, and the help of friends, family and a triangle-shaped Nerf football, helped keep damage to a minimum in their Matawan Drive home.
Cheryl said sewage was bubbling up through a drain in their basement. She called Gary, who was at work, and he said to stuff a ball in the drain.
She tried a softball, but even with her standing on it, the water continued to come in. She then got her son Anthony's Nerf football and twisted it into the drain. That did the trick, she said.
Cheryl, a petite woman, said the pressure was so great that while she was standing on the football, it pushed her up. She called for help from one of the men to keep the ball in place.
Surface water was also flowing into the Abeids' basement through the walls. Cheryl said they formed a bucket brigade to bail it out and were able to keep the water level to a couple of inches.
Crews at work
Gary Bednarik, superintendent of the Campbell Street Department, said portions of about six roads were blocked off and Roosevelt Park was completely under water.
Bednarik said he was called out around 10:15 p.m., and he and his crew worked most of the night. He said a pump station on Robinson Road was working, but it was overwhelmed by the volume of water.
Bednarik said police from Coitsville, Lowellville and Struthers helped with traffic control, and the Mahoning County Engineer's Department sent out crews to help.
Walter Duzzny, director of the Mahoning County Emergency Management Agency, said several residents were temporarily relocated with family and friends while their homes were inspected by fire officials for electrical or gas problems.
When EMA crews first arrived, they went door-to-door waking people to warn them of the danger, Duzzny said.
It rained hard for two to three hours. The volume of water was incredible; when people opened their car doors, the water just poured in, Duzzny said.