Open arms for evacuees

The Anderson Sports-Health Center served as an emergency shelter for evacuees from low lying areas in Luzerne County. People moved in with their belongings throughout the day Thursday.

The September flooding came on the heels of a small earthquake and Hurricane Irene.

Local residents from Wilkes-Barre, Forty Fort, and surrounding areas flocked to the Anderson Center after they evacuated their houses by 4 pm on Thursday. They gathered the belongings that would fit in their cars and drove. Some even had to leave behind their pets.

"One family came in with a dog in a kennel and the daughter asked me if the dogs have to be kept in the kennel. I said no, they just have to be kept on the floor," Director of Student Activities Darcy Brodmerkel said. "They were told that dogs had to be kept in kennels and they left the dog in the house down in Wilkes-Barre. I almost started crying."

Many local residents were thankful MU opened their doors for shelter. One of the people who sought shelter in the Anderson Center was Minister Deborah Fuller of Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Wilkes-Barre. She lives less than a mile away from the Susquehanna River.

"We were told it would be approximately three days that we would have to be out," Ms. Fuller said. "We actually didn't know where to go, because all the hotels were booked, and all the shelters in our area were full. My husband had to go online and then we saw where the other areas were."

Fuller's husband Mick didn't take the flood seriously at first. "I was on my way to work and then my wife called and said they moved the evacuation time up to 4 pm," he said. "That did it for me. I turned the car right around and headed home."

It was the Fullers' first trip to MU. It was also their daughter Shantele's birthday. "It's not exactly how she thought she would be spending her birthday," Fuller said. "This is our first time here and I am so impressed with how clean it was and how nice the building is."

Wilkes-Barre was not the only city affected by the swelling river and streams. Forty Fort resident Sally McGinley also made the trip to MU when she found out she needed to evacuate her home just two miles from the Susquehanna River. The September Flooding reminded her of the Agnes flood, which struck the area in 1972. "Only one word comes to mind when I think about Agnes. Devastation," McGinley said. "We lived in Forty Fort at that time as well and it came up to the second floor of our house. It was just horrible."

Like the Fuller family, McGinley planned to wait to see how bad it was going to get before she evacuated her house. However, when officials moved up the evacuation time, she got out in a hurry.

"I was going to wait it out when I saw the first evacuation was eight tonight," McGinley said. "Then when they changed it to four I thought I better just come, because it was pretty close to flood stage."

First Years Kelly McCauley and Brianna Vinton helped calm McGinley upon her arrival at the Anderson Center. They helped carry her bags and even played with McGinley's dog, Benjamin.

"When she came in, she seemed very frazzled and upset about what was going on," McCauley said. "We just tried to calm her down and we took her for a walk. It seemed to work and she was very appreciative of everything."

McCauley and Vinton were not the only MU students who showed up to help the victims of the September Flooding. All members of the varsity mens' athletic teams were there to help take supplies off of the trucks, along with an abundance of other students on campus.

Students were asked to meet in the Banks Student Life Center at 2 p.m. on Thursday afternoon. The response was overwhelming as the cafeteria was filled with students eager to do their part.

Some people may have been surprised when so many people showed up to help. However, Brodmerkel was not one of those people.

"One of the students just said to me, I'm surprised so many people stepped up," Brodmerkel said. "I said, ‘I'm not.' Before anything started, I had 30 of them here saying, what do we need to do? They know how important this is and I am so proud of all of our students."

MU's Mercy Center served as an evacuation shelter during the Hurricane Agnes Flood of 1972. Senior Katlin Bunton's mother and family evacuated their home in Kingston to the Center during Agnes.