Somerset County residents reeling as floodwaters recede; officials document damage to provide aid

Yahoo

15-05-2025

MEYERSDALE, Pa. – MS Shock Therapy owner Mark Smith's career has been defined by speed and precision.
Even after retiring from stock car racing, Smith built a reputation for using high-tech gear to fine-tune cars for success on the track. But none of that mattered in a race against time and floodwaters Tuesday, he said.
'The water came in so fast. There was nothing we could do,' Smith said.
Fueled by a full day of intense rain, the rapidly rising Casselman River filled Smith's Mount Davis Road auto shop and nearby homes in the Meyersdale area.
PHOTO GALLERY | Meyersdale Flooding
Floodwaters carried a wave of debris down the river, docking much of it against bridges and railroad trestles. Across Boynton, Garrett and Brothersvalley Township, there were reports of roads, bridges and homes battered by the storm.
Somerset County officials and Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency staff toured hard-hit areas Wednesday, going from property to property to document damage – a key step in coordinating a response effort, county Emergency Management Director Joel Landis said.
Disaster services teams from the American Red Cross were handing out cleanup kits while surveying the damage.
They found Stephen Emerick standing in mud-spattered fishing waders. At midday Wednesday, he was still using a motorized pump to pull water from his home – but it wasn't erasing the grim reality that his first floor was 'basically destroyed' by the flooding.
Meyersdale Flooding
Stephen Emerick (left) inspects the exterior of his home after Tuesday's flooding on Mount Davis Road in Meyersdale on Wednesday, May 14, 2025.
In his 18 years living on low-lying Mount Davis Road, Emerick said he's dealt with minor flooding six times. But he said he's never seen waters rise as quickly as they did Tuesday.
'Usually, we have time to react, time to get everything out of the way,' Emerick said, standing in a kitchen marred with mud. 'Not this time.'
Emerick's family tried anyway, he said. They stacked their living room coffee table, chairs and electronics on their couch to protect them from the rising waters. In many cases, it wasn't enough, he said.
In some areas, the mucky high-water mark reached two feet on his walls.
Meyersdale Flooding
An area resident walks across a train bridge over Casselman River where debris is trapped after Tuesday's flooding near Mount Davis Road in Meyersdale on Wednesday, May 14, 2025.
At Smith's shop, the water rose nearly four feet. It climbed over his metal tool cabinets, soaking paperwork and binders in sludge.
Smith, a former Jennerstown Speedway champion, said he was able to remove his customers' vehicles from the shop, but many of his most prized pieces of equipment were destroyed.
That includes NASCAR-style computerized race track simulator equipment that he used to calibrate high-performance shocks for customers from as far away as Oregon, he said.
A $30,000 race car engine was submerged in floodwater – and so were his laptop computers, even though they were waist-high on his desk.
VIDEO: Flooding impacts Meyersdale, southern Somerset County
'It's just devastating,' Smith said, reflecting on decades of work. 'Everything feels so bleak right now.'
State and county emergency management officials were urging community members to complete damage assessment documents called 'disaster intake forms' to notify agencies about issues created by the flooding.
Meyersdale Flooding
Mount Davis Road residents gather outside their home as a sump pump works to drain water from the basement after Tuesday's flooding in Meyersdale on Wednesday, May 14, 2025.
Landis said the goal was two-fold Wednesday. First, officials were attempting to find anyone with urgent issues and unmet needs – for shelter, electricity, or food and water – to connect them with agencies that can help.
The other goal was for Somerset County to build a case for crucial outside disaster assistance, Landis said.
For example, one set of ultra-low-interest loans become available to flood-hit homes and businesses if 25 properties in Somerset County have documented first-floor flood damage, he said.
Other funding programs can also be unlocked to support flooded areas – both residential and municipal properties – to repair damaged bridges, roads and other infrastructure if certain damage thresholds are met, Landis said.
Meyersdale Flooding
Bob Gordon, employee at MS Shock Therapy, carries supplies along Mount Davis Road after Tuesday's flooding in Meyersdale on Wednesday, May 14, 2025.
'We need to show these agencies Somerset County needs these funds. If you are having problems, please call us,' Landis said.
Disaster intake forms are accessible online at www.co.somerset.pa.us/disasterrecovery/disasterrecovery.asp, Landis said.
He said people with urgent needs for food and shelter can contact the Emergency Management office at 814-445-1515 if they haven't already heard back from a local response agency.
He said assessment forms are being reviewed as quickly as possible, but filings from southern Somerset County, including the Meyersdale and Garrett areas, were already piling up.
But some property owners, including Emerick, said that will only address half the issue.
Meyersdale Flooding
Stephen Emerick stands in his kitchen and describes the storm that caused Tuesday's flooding in Meyersdale on Wednesday, May 14, 2025.
He gestured toward his back yard, which was still knee-deep in floodwater Wednesday, toward a nearby flood channel – and wondered if his first floor might have been spared if additional steps had been taken years ago to address his neighborhood's flooding woes.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers installed a flood protection system on one side of the Casselman River, but there's nothing to prevent rising waters from spilling onto Mount Davis Road, Emerick said.
Smith vented that the channel is overdue for dredging.
'I just don't understand it,' Emerick added. 'Is it going to take someone losing a life to get someone to do something about this?'