Towanda Businesses Take a Hit From Flood

Towanda, Bradford County - Businesses in the northern tier are still cleaning-up from the damage done by the swollen Susquehanna River.

One of the hardest hit areas in Bradford County was downtown Towanda, which sits right along the Susquehanna River.

Wearing protective suits, a professional cleaning crew is now tackling a huge mess at one of the busiest buildings in the borough, One Progress Plaza. That facility houses the social security office and Lackawanna College, among many other departments.

At neighboring busineses, other people are just trying to pick up the pieces.

"Just cleaning everything out, trying to sort out what is good from what is bad and hauling it to the dump," Mike Longcoy said.

At the Pennsylvania North Country Artisan Center, managers were trying to get their store back to normal Tuesday.

Their facility took on about a foot of water but they were able to get most items upstairs to safety.

"We knew it was gonna be a lot of rain but we weren't expecting this much. I don't think anyone was," store manager Kathy Joyce said.

Next door at the Weigh Station Cafe, after days of hard work, owners have just been able to reopen.

"With a small business, you can't afford to have too many days off," co-owner Karen Parkhurst said. "It was important for us to try to get some normalcy back in our lives and for our people."

For businesses across Towanda, they know they have a lot of damage but many people also feel for homeowners who have lost everything.

"At the end of the day, when I finish cleaning-up and sweeping out mud, I can go home and take a shower and lock my door because my house was okay. There are so many people that have lost everything," Joyce said.