READING, Pa. (CBS) — Authorities are still assessing the cost of the damage from Sunday’s torrential rains.
There was storm damage throughout the Philadelphia region, from one highway washed away outside Reading a flooding in Hatboro and one confirmed tornado in Middletown in Delaware.
Woodbine Ostagne and her fiance spent the day cleaning up after her parents’ home on Marshall Avenue flooded.
“They came from Haiti and they worked very, very hard to be able to pay off this house for over 20 years, so I’m sure it’s devastating that as soon as they pay it off, this happens,” Ostagne said.
Sunday’s record rainfall led to catastrophic flooding in Berks County. The storm knocked out power to thousands.
Cars and houses were flooded. The roads were washed away.
An auto repair shop on Friedensburg Road in Stony Creek Mills collapsed.
During a tour of the damage Monday, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro pledged funding to help the community rebuild.
“There is a local threshold within the county,” Shapiro said. “That’s $1.9 million in damage. Then there’s a statewide threshold for the storm that happened yesterday. That’s about $23 million. That’s why it’s so important that everyone assess their damage and report it to our county officials so we have that number in place.”
Shapiro also visited Antietam Middle-Senior High School, which was flooded with at least six feet of water.
Officials say 600 students may have to go elsewhere if the school isn’t repaired by the fall.
“We’ll probably have to make some arrangements to move students into other buildings or modular classrooms, things like that. We don’t know how much of this building will be usable, if at all,” Superintendent Heidi Rochlin said.
Before the storm, the school district was building a retaining wall to minimize flooding, but the wall was not built in time.
The nearby Antietam Creek overflowed its banks.
“All the classrooms on our first floor have been wiped out. The gym is unusable,” Rochlin said.
The fire chief said his department rescued several people who were trapped in their homes at a nearby trailer park.
Fortunately, there are no reports of injuries.
Madeleine Wright
