The Heck family lives on an undulating brick road in Millvale named Hays Street. They call it the Toilet Bowl.
A storm drain sits in the middle of the road, and when storms come, as they did twice last week, debris clogs the drain. The water rushing down the hill to Girty's Run and the raw sewage backing up from neighborhood homes all flood the street and then the homes of Heck and her neighbors with a brown, smelly, soupy mess.
Government officials are planning to fix the flood problems that have troubled this Allegheny River borough in recent years. But it might be too late. The Toilet Bowl might be flushing a neighborhood away.
"My heart is broken. I don't know what to do," Patty Heck said at an impromptu Salvation Army emergency center Sunday afternoon. "I would love to stay, but I'm afraid now."
For many borough residents besides Heck, last week was a breaking point. The homes along Girty's Run and the nearby streets have become flood-prone since 2004. The residents said they want out, but they might be stuck.
"If we could get out now, we would. But we're not going to get anything for (selling)," said Kevin Hoerner, who bought his North Avenue home 10 years ago.
Lifelong residents said there was little, if any flooding before the remnants of Hurricane Ivan overflowed the borough of 4,000 people in 2004. Now it has happened twice in three years -- three times for Heck and her neighbors.
The Army Corps of Engineers planned to have contractors on site today to start dredging by the end of the week, said T.J. Fichera, chief of the Readiness Office for the Pittsburgh District of the Corps of Engineers. Corps workers supervised the placement of a temporary flood wall along Hansen Street on Saturday and will continue examining the flood wall along Girty's Run.
The steps are part of a three-phase process to restore the creek to its pre-Ivan condition. The third step is a comprehensive watershed study that includes a look at how suburban development in the North Hills has overwhelmed Girty's Run. Such studies usually take a couple of years, Fichera said.
Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato has called for another three-point plan, including the demolition of homes, to increase the watershed's capacity to absorb runoff.
Such programs can be expensive; the corps' plan has already been delayed by Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts and an inability to obtain all the necessary easements. Publicity about the recent floods might encourage regional political leaders to allocate money for the projects, borough Manger Virginia Pucci said yesterday as she wore yellow kitchen gloves and blue jeans folded above her calves while standing in the midst of her own flood cleanup.
Many borough streets were dry and clean yesterday afternoon, although some still had a thin glaze of mud. Filled Dumpsters sat at intervals along North Avenue. On curbsides, some piles of trash remained, including armchairs, stuffed animals, strollers and boxes.
One such pile sat in front of Jim Corfield's front-yard flower garden. After the 2004 flood, he moved a block up the street, thinking he'd be safe from future floods.
Like many Millvale residents, he lost everything in his basement. He has lived in the borough his whole life but said he is going to start looking for a new apartment again, maybe in a different community, but at least farther up the hill.
"I don't want to have to go through it again," he said.
As a renter, Corfield has more options. Many people with mortgages feel stuck. Patty Heck bought her home five years ago and still owes $42,000 on her mortgage.
As of yesterday afternoon, 228 families had visited the Salvation Army center, getting clothes and cleaning supplies and making arrangements for new water heaters. The group had provided about 2,000 meals to people who lost food in flooded basement pantries and ruined refrigerators, disaster services director Bob Myers said.
Their workers heard the same message of frustration from many residents.
"The homeowners are almost throwing their hands up," Maj. Deborah Sedlar said. "There's a number of ... renters and they're just looking at me and saying 'I'm out of here.' "
