Main St. Washed Up By Floyd
Piece by soggy piece, they are trying to put Bound Brook, N.J. back together again, reports CBS Correspondent Jeffrey Kofman.
One week after Hurricane Floyd barreled up the East Coast, Jacob Swerdlow is salvaging whatever he can from his art and framing business. Like everyone in else in town, he'd seen floods on Main Street before, so this time he thought he was ready. But he was very wrong.
"Everything was picked off the floor," he says of getting ready for the storm. "There is no way, outside of calling Noah to bring the ark over, that you prepare for sixteen feet of water."
No one was prepared for the torrents of rain that struck, turning the valley town into Venice. In dozens of other towns, the water is still high. Like Bound Brook, they too are left wondering if their dreams of a booming town center have been drowned by Floyd's floods.
It's hard to believe that just a week ago rivers were flowing over the tops of bridges. For almost 30 years they have been planning a flood control system for the region surrounding Bound Brook. It got its final approvals this summer, but for some it may now be too late.
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"I think Main Street, Bound Brook at this point is probably finished," says Phyllis Pournaras, who leads Bound Brook's Business Improvement Association. "I don't think new people will come downtown to rent."
Over the years, she has watched the picturesque downtown revive itself by fixing up its facades and attracting small businesses. The malls didn't kill Main Street, but Floyd may have.
"The key to this is money," Pournaras says. "Nobody wants to apply for a loan, nobody wants to make another big investment of their own personal funds." Business owners insist they need grants to rebuild, but disaster relief comes in the form of low-interest loans. Swerdlow says he will not rebuild.
Says Swerdlow: "I will never open up again in this locationÂ… the charm of this town is its main street. [After the flood], the charm of this town is no longer charming. I suggested they just make it a highway."
For most on Main Street, being awash in water -- and more debt -- is a prospect that's just too much to bear.
Meanwhile, in North Carolina, The Coast Guard faced a grim chore Friday: trying to snag as many as 100 coffins cast adrift from cemeteries inundated by the Tar River.
There, they're calling this "the flood of the millenium."
Citing the latest assessment of damage caused by Floyd and the flood, Gov. Jim Hunt went to Washington Thursday to lobby for more federal disaster aid.
Here's a look at the current status of damage in North Carolina:
- 42 people confirmed dead
- Over 700 roads remain flooded
- 2700 people remain in shelters
- 30,000 buildings were damaged by floodwaters
- Schools will be closed for another month or two
- Losses are expected to surpass $6 billion
Altogether, the storm killed at least 69 people from the Bahamas to New England.