FEBRUARY 19, 2015
SHAMOKIN, PENNSYLVANIA
Dehumidifiers and fans blew air into the American Legion
building in Shamokin on Thursday. Parts of the building are drying out after a
pipe burst earlier this week on the third floor of the building on Independence
Street.
City administrator Bob Slaby said cold temperatures caused
the copper pipe to burst and flood the back half of the building.
“I figured the roof was leaking like many places. I didn’t
expect to come in and find the ceilings down all over the place and water
running all over,” Slaby said.
Slaby says a lot of the water damaged the Shamokin/Coal
Township Heritage Museum, which is on the second floor of the building. He says
some Shamokin and Coal Township memorabilia was damaged.
“With the amount of water that was coming out, there was a
couple of inches on the floor,” Slaby said.
Slaby said some of the floor tiles must be ripped up to make
sure there is no mold underneath, and he believes there is a few thousand
dollars in damage to the building, which was built in 1922.
He won’t know until the insurance adjuster inspects the
building.
The legion is above the Shamokin/Coal Township Public
Library and while no books were damaged, the entire second floor needs to be
dried out.
“The water just kept pouring out and it kept moving across
the ceiling all over and we didn’t know where to catch it already, it was that
bad,” Patricia Segedy said.
Library officials say this is the children’s section of the
library. All children’s programs are cancelled until further notice, and the
room is closed until repairs can be done.