Some West End Residents Feeling Forgotten In Wake Of Severe Flash Flooding
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The flood waters have subsided along McKnight Street and Woodville Avenue, just off Greentree Road, but for the people who live there, the problems, including the stench, haven't gone away.
"The water pushed me in the kitchen area, it pushed me. I was in the water [worried about the refrigerator] not realizing that I could get electrocuted," Calvin Robinson said.
Robinson and his neighbors say it's as if the City of Pittsburgh has forgotten about the West End Valley, in the wake of last week's flash flooding.
"We should be able to get some kind of help or something. I don't get it," he said.
Jim Evans says he's lived in the neighborhood for seven years.
Evans asked, "Where's my city representatives? The city workers? The mayor? It's been five days, and I haven't seen anybody here."
The McKnight Street block was littered with furniture and other household items which can't be saved.
The floodwaters came gushing out of Saw Mill Run bringing with it not only debris, but raw sewage.
ALCOSAN has posted a warning about the dangers presented by the creek's water.
Damon Nelson, who lives one street over on Woodville Avenue, said, "I lost my furnace, washer, dryer, still no electricity. Not one person has come down here [to help], it's been a pain."
James Binford, a retired Marine, told KDKA-TV's Ralph Iannotti, "It's a shame, a crying shame. People out in Bethel Park and Upper St. Clair, they got help, but we didn't. They forget about us back here. I wish the city would do something; they need to do something."
Another neighbor, Paulmor Ernst, said, "The stream here was the biggest problem. I thought the Army Corps of Engineers had done something with it before, but it just can't hold water in a flash flood like this."