$10,000 Check Presented to Pittston Memorial Library for Flood Recovery

WASHINGTON - Congressman Paul E. Kanjorski (PA-11) recently joined Michael Freedman of Coventry Insurance to present a $10,000 check to board members and staff of the Pittston Memorial Library for recovery efforts after Nov.16 rainstorms that flooded the library's basement and caused more than $200,000 in damages. Upon the recommendation of Congressman Kanjorski, Coventry Insurance officials chose the Library as the recipient of its donation.

"I am happy to have been able to recommend such a worthy institution as the Pittston Memorial Library as the recipient of this donation. This library in particular has become a cornerstone of the Pittston community. This donation will certainly help to bring the library's collection back to what it was prior to the storm," Congressman Kanjorski said. "I applaud the quick thinking and action taken by former Mayor Lombardo and Library Director Melissa Szafran Jones."

Szafran Jones was in for quite a surprise on the evening of Nov. 16 after leaving work. The rain had already begun, and she had been advised to take a different route home because her normal route was flooding. As she drove home, a wall of water suddenly came toward her car. The same culvert that would flood the Pittston Library just seconds later broke and nearly swept her away in her vehicle. The water had risen up to her lap when suddenly two strangers appeared and rescued her. She asked what their names were and they told her to "think of them as her guardian angels."

Just as she was being rescued, she received a phone call from former Pittston Mayor Mike Lombardo, who told her that the library was flooding.

Szafran Jones rushed back to join Lombardo, where they found that water had reached the sixth step of the back main staircase. Before it was all over, the first part of the basement filled up with five feet of water; the second part, separated by a steel door, filled up with nearly four feet.

The same culvert that had nearly caused Szafran Jones to be swept away in her car had gone on to flood every building in the plaza where the library is located.  Because the rain was falling so heavily and quickly - four inches in two hours - the culvert could not hold under the pressure and it burst.

Szafran Jones was grateful for the $10,000 donation and for the help that so many people in the community have given, including former Mayor Lombardo, fire, police and street departments, City Council and current Mayor Joseph Keating.

The basement housed books, computers, old newspaper archives, children's programming, materials for the library's book sale and summer fair, and furniture.

"It was really devastating for us because everything was gone," Szafran Jones said. "Still, it could have been much worse. The kids were there that afternoon, and I'm not sure how we would have been rescued," she said, explaining that the parking lot was not only flooded, but also filled with boulders, debris and tree limbs.

The Pittston Memorial Library opened again on Dec. 4. Library hours are Monday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Tuesday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.