State Rep. Scott Conklin, D-Rush Township, on Monday announced the commonwealth will provide a $180,000 grant to assist the residents of 18 townhomes in Patton Township who were displaced by a sinkhole that opened in their parking lot on Christmas Day.
The grant will be delivered “almost immediately” to the township, which will then disburse it to residents of the Georgetown Park Community on Amblewood Way, who had to evacuate their homes for well over two months, with some still unable to return. The money can be used for costs such as engineering, inspections, repairs and temporary shelter.
Conklin, speaking at a news conference at the Patton Township Municipal Building, said the grant is the result of advocacy by residents of the townhomes who approached his office, Patton Township Supervisor Pamela Robb and her fellow board members, his staff and the support of Gov. Josh Shapiro. There are no state or federal programs to aid a relatively small number of people affected by such a disaster, and the grant was pulled together from discretionary funds.
“This is a devastating situation for these families who have lost their homes and belongings due to this disaster,” Conklin said. “They need our support and compassion during this difficult time. That is why I worked with the Shapiro administration to secure this grant, to ease their financial burden and help them restore their homes as soon as possible.”
The sinkhole opened up on Christmas afternoon as a water main that runs through the parking lot dividing the two rows of townhomes burst. After code officials, State College Borough Water Authority personnel and emergency responders arrived, residents were told that had 30 minutes to evacuate, unaware it would be months before they could return.
“Imagine Christmas Eve going to bed, waiting for Christmas Day only to find out that your Christmas present is you don’t have a place to live,” Conklin said. “You have nowhere to go and [there is] no one to help. I could not even imagine that happening and that’s what these folks went through.”
Residents soon found that their insurance would be of no help because they didn’t have riders for sinkholes.
“It’s been very frustrating. My insurance company hasn’t done anything. Zero,” resident Mollie Craig said. “That’s frustrating when you pay an insurance company all those years. I had a rider on my insurance for displacement. They’re fighting me on that because they said you don’t have sinkhole insurance, you get nothing.”
Craig and Robb urged local residents to check their insurance policies and add sinkhole coverage if they don’t have it.
“It’s not something you think about but, like Pam said, it’s important that you do that because it will save you a lot of frustration if something like this would happen,” Craig said.
The Red Cross was able to provide $500 to each household for hotel expenses, but that lasted only a few days. Robb, who has been working to get help for the displaced residents, called hotels and managed to get longer term discounts for those affected at Super 8 and Ramada, which she said were eager to assist.
Conklin said he will introduce legislation in the near future that would give hotels and motels a state tax credit equal to the discounted or comped cost of a room donated to a Pennsylvania family displaced by a disaster.
Craig owns one of the six townhomes that were found to have foundation problems and cannot be occupied until they are fixed. The owners have had the properties evaluated and are hoping to get an estimate this week. If they agree to an estimate, the work could take anywhere from two weeks to four months, Craig said. She added that other damage to the home also will need to be repaired
“When I look back at it it was kind of shocking and it didn’t really hit me until the next day,” she said. “Since then we’ve been dealing with this. Friends and people in the community have been very gracious in helping us with some money to get us through the beginning of this. And I’m just thankful to everybody here.”
For other residents, their foundation was found to be safe, but have damage that a code inspector said needs to first be evaluated by a structural engineer.
Maria Truglio, who has lived at Georgetown for nearly 18 years, is one of those.
“Since Christmas Day, my husband and I have been living out of our luggage at multiple temporary locations, still going to work every day and trying to live our lives,” she said. “This was totally unexpected, nothing that any of the residents or owners at Georgetown did wrong to cause this event to happen.
“We’re just so extremely grateful to Pam and Scott and the governor for making these funds available. The funds themselves of course are going to be a huge help in moving forward with the repairs but also just in the sense that someone sees what’s going on and somebody cares, just psychologically because it’s been a financial hit but also a huge psychological hit to be living through.”
Robb, who was praised by every speaker for her advocacy, called the townhome residents her “heroes.”
“They’re the ones that have gone through hell and back and they’re here and they’re still standing,” Robb said. “…These individuals are standing here strong, courageous and with this help they are able to go back in their homes.”
