Blind Cow Rescued From Flooded Finleyville Creek

FINLEYVILLE (KDKA) -- A Finleyville family rescued a blind cow that was swept away in a creek during Friday night's severe flooding.

Sherene Gorski says she and her husband were checking flooding in their basement after their daughter came home around 3 a.m.

The flooded Peters Creek behind their house left five feet of water in their basement, but that wasn't the only surprise.

"And we looked outside, and the cow was floating in the water," Gorski said. "We tied a rope around her and were pulling at her and trying to get her to safe ground."

The 17-year-old blind cow got away from Lenik's Greenhouse after several feet of fast-moving currents took down their fences and carried the cow away.

"My uncle's had her for a long time, and I was surprised she made it, actually," D.J. Lenik said. "We kind of thought we lost her, there."

The cow was loaded into a trailer and returned Saturday afternoon. The cow's two calves were also swept away in the flooding. They were later rescued and returned to the Greenhouse.

"The cows just started running wild," Lenik said. "They didn't know where to go, they didn't know where they were trying to go."

That was just the beginning of the trouble for Lenik's family property.

"My uncle owns the house here," Lenik said. "His basement's flooded out, full all the way up to the ceiling, covered in mud. We have an office, and everything was damaged."

High waters from Peters Creek wiped out more than 15,000 chrysanthemums, which the Greenhouse sells to local Giant Eagle stores.

"They're all destroyed," Lenik said. "There's no recovering them, other than picking up the pots and cleaning up the damage."

Flood waters from the creek were four or five feet higher than normal, prompting boat rescues for some residents.

Ed Lewicki and neighbor Kim Campbell live in apartments behind Bob's Tavern. Lewicki got out safely, but Campbell had to be rescued by a boat.

"I come out, there's waters coming in my front door," Lewicki said. "I said, 'It's time to go.'"

"I couldn't believe how bad it was out here," Campbell said. "I never seen anything like that, wow."

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