'We can't do it alone': Garrett hopes for help as state teams survey flood-hit areas in precursor to possible aid

Yahoo

20-05-2025

GARRETT, Pa. – Don Hostetler's family bar survived Prohibition and generations of change in Garrett. On Monday, Hostetler was trying to figure out how Dub's Bar and Grill will survive four feet of floodwater from Buffalo Creek.
'I'm going to have to gut everything inside here,' Hostetler said, gesturing toward water-stained wood paneling in the bar.
Hostetler and co-owner Tammy Miller were far from alone. The Garrett bar is among a half-dozen commercial businesses, in addition to dozens of homes, that have reported first-floor damage caused by last Tuesday's flooding in southern Somerset County, according to county emergency management officials.
Whether the property owners get a significant amount of the help they are seeking could depend on the combined results from the 51 properties – and on property visits that were underway Monday in hard-hit areas, including Garrett's Pine Street neighborhood and Mount Davis Road in Meyersdale.
PHOTO GALLERY | Flooding Cleanup | Garrett Borough | Somerset County
Staff from Somerset County's and Pennsylvania's emergency management agencies and the state's Small Business Administration were walking door to door, documenting high-water marks and other signs of first-floor flooding.
According to Somerset County Emergency Management Director Joel Landis, the Small Business Administration's findings will likely determine whether a broad spectrum of government support could be unlocked for disaster areas such as Meyersdale, Garrett and Elk Lick Township.
That includes low-interest Small Business Administration repair loans, which are only available if disasters inflict damage to the first floors of at least 25 homes or businesses, he said. And there is a set damage threshold that must be met to qualify each residence, Landis and Deputy Director Kevin Broadwater added.
'It's not always simple. Sometimes people have a different view of 'damage' than what we do,' Broadwater added.
The American Red Cross reported Monday that its disaster response team has already provided emergency recovery relief to approximately 80 people whose property damage met its own support criteria.
But the goal is to provide layers of support – whether it's local, state, federal or charity groups – to give hard-hit Somerset County residents as many chances as possible at getting help, Landis said.
That could be a big benefit for Hostetler, who is the second generation in his family to operate Dub's. He was still sorting out how he'll rebound from last week's devastation. He estimated that $30,000 in commercial kitchen equipment was destroyed.
The losses extend far beyond the old bar itself, a onetime speakeasy that his father later bought in the 1970s. His entire inventory of food and beer had to be discarded, he said.
'If I can get at least some help with the (building), I'd absolutely be interested,' Hostetler said.
There's no doubt there are many more people who need help, too, Garrett Borough Mayor Donald 'Butch' Walker said. After a Casselman River tributary spilled its banks last week, Walker said borough staffers immediately started contacting haulers to get as many dumpsters as they could find to help people begin clearing out their mud-soaked homes.
But there's only so much a borough of 415 residents with a $400,000 operating budget can do, he said.
'We're doing whatever we can to get them help,' he added, 'but we can't do it alone.'
Nearby, Zac Cooney and his wife, Autumn, were sitting inside a garage that just five days earlier was flooded by knee-deep water. The flood washed out their furnace, swept up tools and carried their picnic bench two blocks down to Garrett's Walker Street underpass, he said.
Some of their belongings are 'probably gone for good,' Cooney said, leaning against his side-by-side utility vehicle.
It's too soon to know how they'll replace it all, Cooney said. But it's all just material goods, he added. Their two sons, ages 2 and 3, were playing nearby – and unharmed by the disaster.
'They are what matters,' Cooney said.