YARDLEY, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — Behind Larysa Luzeckyj’s home in Yardley, a crater-like hole sits where her backyard should be. Inside, dehumidifiers have piled up.
When the fatal flash flood rolled through Bucks County on July 15, floodwaters poured in from the street and rushed around the sides of her and her neighbors’ homes, creating a whirlpool-like current.
The water washed away about 75% of her backyard as well as two cars, a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, and a shed filled with tools.
Luzeckyj and her family had just arrived in Maine for a two-week vacation when they got a call about the damaging waters. They headed home first thing in the morning.
“The scene was not even chaotic, it was devastating to us,” she said. “Our hearts sank.”
While she’s grateful her family of four, plus their three cats, are OK, Luzeckyj estimates they lost about $60,000 worth of items inside the place they have called home for more than 30 years.
Luzeckyj’s next-door neighbor, April Bollwage-Cloer, said her household is out about $10,000. She’s waiting for electrical work to finish up before workers can put walls and floors back down in the home that’s been in her family for decades.
“This was something that we’ve never seen before,” she added. “We’ve always gotten a foot of water, maybe two; lost a car or two. But never like this.”
Fortunately, thanks to the generosity of her neighbors and the Bucks County community, Bollwage-Cloer, Luzeckyj and others are getting some help. Local groups have raised at least $75,000, which will be divided up among about a dozen households as they clean up and rebuild.
“We wouldn’t be here and we wouldn’t be this far along without the goodness of people,” Luzeckyj said. “We love everybody in this neighborhood.”
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Six people were confirmed dead in the July 15 flood, including a mother and her 2-year-old daughter. The body of the seventh victim, the woman’s 9-month-old son, was never found.