Back from the hills

Things are getting back to normal for most of us. My house is empty of friends and relatives who took refuge and are back in their homes. The biggest problem we ran into was basement flooding. We have been working on cleaning up the mess but it's nothing like 1972 when I went into my grandmother's house and found a large carp on top of the TV and couple of inches of mud. I will never forget the smell and Mrs. G says she can smell the flood everytime they demolish a building in Wilkes-Barre.

As much as I beat up on our county commissioners it's only fair to tell them when they do a good job. The Luzerne County Emergency Management Services did what they are supposed to do. The decision to order an evacuation was prudent and every government agency was called into action. As I was running all over the place yesterday I saw our local police and fire departments on the scene dealing with the latest crises within a crises and the public works depts. of several towns on the scene and helping everyone they could. The Army Corps of Engineers managed the Levee system and PennDOT, the state police and agencies that escape me where all on the same page. I think most of the country can learn from us on how to manage a crises. Thank god FEMA didn't poke their noses in and try to take over. The sad part is we have had a lot of practice with floods and many people who are not protected by the dikes lost their homes.