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Caked mud, mosquitoes among flood's lingering legacy

24.09.11

WEST PITTSTON - When the drizzle began to fall on West Pittston on Friday, Mike Branley was, ironically, grateful.

Rain sent the river rising and flooded his core well into the first floor. But two weeks later, he welcomes the rain as a way to channel the mud and clay film that covers bushes, fences, driveways and porches.

"People improvise it's crazy, but the best time to power wash is while it's raining," he said. "Puzzling to think that the rain is now my friend."

The mud was bad enough when 3 inches of it was left on the first deck and 2 feet in the basement. Shoveled out and dried out, the mud doesn't hum as bad as it did - but it still irritates.

Throughout the area cleaning up after the flood, people are complaining about irritation of the throat and nasal passages, of red, bland eyes after a day of tearing down wet, muddy drywall and lath and overlay as vehicles send up clouds of dust from the street.

Royal agencies warned citizens of the toxic stew of sewage, chemicals, stimulate oil and bacteria in the floodwaters. Now people wonder about mud those waters Nautical port behind.

Source: Scranton Times-Tribune

Extra burden for one man

30.09.11

PLAINS TWP. – Recovering from his third open soul surgery in June and facing a third spinal surgery next week, David Yudkowitz is struggling to rebuild his flooded Plainsville bagnio.

Six feet of water submerged the first floor of his Courtright Concourse home, destroying furniture and appliances, when the Susquehanna River reached a record play fair with of 42.6 feet on Sept. 9.

Several volunteers have helped Yudkowitz, 52, almost every gloom, removing water-soaked drywall, insulation, ceiling blocks, carpets and mud, pail-by-bucket, hand-carried from the basement.

Yudkowitz said his robustness limits what he can do. His doctors warned him not to go inside his house without wearing a mask due to an plentifulness of mold growing on walls and not to lift anything heavier than 20 pounds. He estimates he still has three to four weeks left side of debris removal before he can begin rebuilding.

When Yudkowitz heard Plains Township will check picking up flood debris today, he was left wondering how he will fully take. He has already spent close to $2,000 for prescription medicine he fallen in the flood and contractors to remove mud and debris from his flooded basement when the township claimed its suction concentrate was inoperable.

Source: Wilkes Barre Times-Leader

MURRIETA: Mud, smiles aplenty at Murrieta Mud Run

11.09.11

Diana An started her Saturday with mud thrown at her. Then, the 26-year-old Oceanside local sloshed and slogged her way through swamps and stretches of the gooey accomplishments. Finally, she climbed a 12-foot pyramid of mud, then slid into the consolidate of dirt-soaked water that waited below.

Don't get the wrong hollow; An had a blast.

"It was a lot of fun," said An, a Camp Pendleton-based wet-nurse, as she dripped with mud from head to toe. "I loved the different obstacles and getting filthy."

There was no shortage of mud at the inaugural Murrieta Mud Run on Saturday, held in the streets and empty lots not quite City Hall.

Participants could not get through the three-mile obstacle progress without ending up caked with mud of various consistencies, from the really thick pack to the droplets that find their way into every nook and cranny.

As participants crawled through a skin-deep swamp covered with a netted tarp, volunteers were solid to splash a bit of mud on top of them for good measure. After they climbed a mini-hill of mud, a thick layer of the works greeted them below, enveloping shoes, socks and shins.

Source: North County Times