White Christmas dreams become wet Christmas nightmare
Dec. 27—FARRELL — Just about 11 a.m. Saturday — Christmas Eve — Tony Pope saw trouble rushing into his apartment under the door of his apartment at Farrell First Choice homes.
"I could see the water rolling in under my doorway then," said Pope, who lives with his wife in the apartment building owned by the Mercer County Housing Authority.
Within minutes, he said the water was nearly a foot deep, the result of a broken water line in the apartment building.
With temperatures hovering around zero throughout the day Saturday, a sprinkler line ruptured and flooded the first floor of the building, at Spearman and Roemer Boulevard, said Mercer County Housing Authority Director Holly Nogay. The authority owns First Choice Homes.
"The force of water was so great we couldn't even turn off the water," Nogay said, and added that a crew from Aqua Pennsylvania had to turn off water service at the main line to stop the deluge.
While the line break flooded only the first-floor apartments, Nogay said entire building had to be evacuated because the sprinkler system no longer worked, which put more than 50 residents out of their homes for Christmas Day.
Pope said he smelled natural gas in the building during the emergency. Nogay said there was no issue with gas lines, and the authority turned off all the complex's utilities as a precaution.
All service, including water, was restored to the complex and residents of the second and third floors returned home Tuesday morning. Nogay said the first-floor residents, including Pope, can't go back home until the rooms are dry and water-damaged carpet is replaced.
There were a few anxious moments on Saturday morning for Pope, who said he was worried about his elderly mother who was visiting during her recovery from a major stroke.
"We knew there was nothing we could do about this situation, so we prayed to God," Pope said.
He credited Farrell's police and fire departments and neighboring first responders for aiding residents. His mother was helped into a wheelchair to flee the building.
"The police and fire departments had people there within minutes when all of this started," he said.
The three-story apartment complex sits across the street from Farrell's municipal building, which houses the city's police and fire departments.
Nogay said the housing authority responded to make sure the residents had food and shelter after the line break. Some residents had made arrangements to stay with family members and friends. The Mercer County Regional Council of Governments transit service took the remaining residents to the Quality Inn motel in Hermitage.
Guy Gibbs, a Hermitage-based caterer, the Red Cross and Valley Baptist Church in Farrell provided food for evacuated residents Saturday through Monday. Nogay said Gibbs provided a traditional Christmas dinner, which residents appreciated during a difficult holiday.
"It's hard to be out — really hard — of your home on Christmas," Nogay said.
The Housing Authority has had its share of bad luck at Christmastime. On Christmas Day 2019, residents of the authority apartment complex at George J. Vermeire Manor in Sharon were displaced in a fire that damaged much of the 70-unit complex. It took months to complete repairs.
Pope, his wife and mother remain at the motel along with a couple of elderly residents, he said. He's concerned about what will greet him when he returns. Unopened family Christmas gifts remain in the apartmen, and Pope said he isn't sure if they've been damaged.
"All of us have cried over this," he said. "I did a lot of crying on Christmas day. But I'm better now."
