East Liberty Businesses Continuing To Clean Up After Flooding

EAST LIBERTY (KDKA) – A busy East Liberty intersection is still cleaning up after a major water main break flooded several buildings nearby.

Now, five business owners, whose stores were damaged, are wondering how long they'll be closed.

The majority of the water in the flooded basements has been pumped out. This morning, it was a far cry from the 5 feet of water that was inside just hours before.

"I was praying that it did not come as far into the business," one woman said.

The flooding happened when a water line going into a vacant building broke and started to fill the basement early Tuesday morning.

No one knew until it started seeping into the other buildings nearby.

The Smoke Shoppe along North Highland was one of the places that had its basement filled. The owner says at first, she started lifting what she could to get it higher, but then had to retreat when the water really started to rise.

Today, the area where everything was stored is a soggy and water-logged mess.

"It was pouring right in. Came right up to street level and oozed out the doors," Eddie Lesoon said.

Lesoon manages some of the buildings along Broad Street. One of his properties got just a few inches of water.

"We got hit very lightly. We were fortunate," he said.

Crews worked for hours to fix the break and then pumped the water out before it could do even more damage.

Even though there's still a little bit of water in the basement at The Smoke Shoppe, they opened their doors this morning for business.

They said they're in the process of assessing how much damage was done.

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