Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette
	Ed Carr says he'll try to reopen his business, Yetter's Ice Cream & Candy in Millvale, despite flood damage that could total more than $200,000. MORE COVERAGE Floods keeping some smaller local railroads from getting on with the business of commerce The Flood of '04 An index to Post-Gazette coverage

Gone, for the most part, is the foul-smelling muck. Mostly a memory, too, are curb-side piles of ruined household items. Once-impassable streets are open.

Many of the visible sores from the Sept. 17 flooding in Allegheny County have healed with what would have seemed as superhuman dispatch three weeks ago. Cleanup in some hard-hit areas has been so successful that a visitor might not be able to tell that the area had been inundated.

But such street-level observations are deceiving, officials are quick to note.

"Visually, it looks much better than the day after the flood," Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato said last week. "But structurally and economically, the damage is behind the facade." That job of repairing internal damage to homes and businesses and replacing possessions is going to be the hardest part of the flood recovery.

Bob Full, the county's emergency management director, agreed: "There's a lot of pain and suffering inside the walls, behind the doors of so many people's homes and businesses. The emergency on the streets is over, but there's still an emergency behind the walls."

Onorato said he would announce this week what the county can do financially to help homeowners and business owners.

But, he added, the county can offer only a fraction of what is necessary. Federal and state financial aid over and above what already is being provided by those governments is essential to any meaningful recovery, he said.

So far, 5,075 applicants in Allegheny County have received $5.5 million in disaster housing grants and $2.5 million for other assistance, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The $8 million total for disaster assistance in Allegheny County accounts for more than one-third of the $21 million FEMA has distributed statewide.

In addition to financial worries, Onorato said, there are mental health concerns. For that reason, he's included the Human Services Department in the county's recovery team.

"We're looking at months of repairs and recovery. ... Every possible emotion will occur in this third phase -- depression, frustration, anger, loneliness. We believe counseling will be necessary, and we want to make sure that help is available."

Millvale
More than 400 residences, about a third of those in the borough, were affected by the flooding of Girty's Run. A full 80 percent, or 190, of its businesses were damaged.

The borough's 2-year-old police department offices were flooded, and officers are working out of a municipal garage bay. Unbudgeted costs to the borough associated with the flood are expected to exceed $500,000.

Borough Manager Virginia Heller hasn't heard any business owners say for certain that they won't reopen or any homeowners say they are leaving, but she echoed Onorato in saying that both groups need federal and state financial assistance.

"People here have shown goodwill and a good effort to survive, but we need the help of political figures to survive. We're not going to make it if they don't help us."

She said she was pleased with the cleanup efforts but now worries about the mental health of her residents.

"The debris is gone and now the realization of what happened is taking effect. Winter's coming and some people don't have furnaces and can't get them because of demand," said Heller, whose own furnace was ruined in the flood.

"There was a lot of community spirit during the cleanup, but now people are looking individually at what they've lost."

Among them is Ed Carr, owner of Yetter's Ice Cream & Candy at 504 Grant Ave. As he walked through his badly damaged store recently, Carr tried to be upbeat about reopening the business, a Millvale landmark since 1950.

"In the beginning, everything was so out of whack, so out of kilter, that I thought, 'Is it worth it to reopen?' " said Carr, who had no flood insurance and whose estimated losses are between $200,000 and $300,000.

But since then, he's resolved to return.

"I think my spirits are pretty high," he said. "I don't know what I'd do without all of these friends."

Heidelberg
A third of its properties, 198 of about 600, were affected by the flood. Nineteen of its 21 businesses suffered some damage. The borough building was flooded, perhaps beyond repair, and many municipal records were lost. Also damaged was the Volunteer Fire Department Hall.

Mayor Kenneth LaSota said the damage was staggering: "Last week, walking down the street was like walking down a tunnel of debris."

Now, though, the borough looks remarkably recovered. There are isolated piles of debris and some "closed" signs, but the efforts of volunteers helped people get through the initial crises of damaged homes, interrupted utilities and the need for food, clothing and shelter, LaSota said.

The work is far from done, though. Interiors are still in shambles, most people are just beginning the process of putting their homes and lives back together, and many volunteers have returned to their own lives.

LaSota said people had been on an emotional roller coaster since Sept. 17.

"At first, I saw fear on their faces, then there was a period where everyone was pulling together and just getting the work done. Now I'm seeing bewildered, lost looks, as people begin to see their gutted houses and realize that it might be three, four weeks or months before they get back some sense of normalcy."

Last week, the borough moved its offices to the former Heidelberg Elementary School on Ellsworth Avenue, where it will rent space until officials decide whether the borough building can be renovated.

"We've got streets buckled that will have to be repaired, stop signs to be replaced, borough and fire equipment to be replaced," LoSota said. "And we still have to pay employees, pay for services. We're now paying rent for the borough offices."

On Railroad Street, Apple Printing is hanging on with a small press and folder operating and another press working sporadically, while owner Ray Losego works feverishly to get his other three presses up and running before bills surge in and customers leave.

He's sent jobs out to other printers so his customers will get their orders, talking to the manufacturer of his presses, which are made in Heidelberg, Germany, and working day and night to clean up and keep his operation going.

"The only way we're going to survive is production," Losego said.

Etna
Some 410 homes and 70 businesses were damaged by the flooding of Pine Creek, representing about a fourth of the borough's total in both categories.

Borough Manager Mary Ellen Ramage said there was a mix of opinions about the ability to recover.

"The business community and a good portion of the residential community feel they're going to make it and come back from this, and then we have a lot residents who didn't have insurance and lost everything and they're a little down, obviously.

"It seems to be turning around a little bit. There's been so much help offered, it's wonderful. That's giving them some hope.

"We have to move on," she said. "We can't lay down and die."

Only one business, the Blarney Stone, has said it would not reopen, she said.

Still, Ramage echoed other local and county officials that additional state and federal assistance is necessary for recovery to be effective.

"I feel bad for the business community because nothing is being offered them other than loans. I hope the Legislature acts on that and puts pressure on the federal government through whatever means," she said.

One business that's back up and running is the florist shop Always in Bloom at 48 Bridge St. Despite water that filled the basement and three feet of the first floor, destroying flowers, plants, pottery, vases, compressors, coolers, displays and furniture, it nevertheless filled orders for weddings and funerals the day after the flooding.

Co-owner Susan Haas Colonello, who stood in mud to get the orders readied and delivered, said she had no choice but to honor the trust that had been put in the store to come through, high water or not.

The shop has been cleaned, new equipment and merchandise is either in place or coming. Some sense of normalcy is gradually returning.

"We're recovering. It's a slow-but-sure process," she said. "I think [co-owner Kevin Burke] and I have the attitude you just have to move on. You can't dwell on this.''

In front of the store, the owners have erected a sign: "Dear Ivan, We're Back. Love, Always in Bloom."

Carnegie
"When the sun rose on the 18th, if you would have told me that 2¹/₂ weeks later it would look like it does, I wouldn't have believed it," said Carnegie police Chief Jeff Harbin, driving through the town last week. Only days before, the streets were lined with 8- to 10-foot-tall piles of refuse from the 304 homes and 205 businesses damaged by water that rose above parking meters.

The streets now look nearly normal, save for the occasional refuse pile, the still-blinking traffic lights that have yet to be repaired, and the formerly submerged car here and there still veiled in a layer of mud. Many businesses are open; many more have signs saying they are coming back.

Mayor James Pascoe, wearing a cap that read "Carnegie, Pa. - Proud, Strong, United," said he knew of a couple of businesses that plan to close including Eagle Drug, but that most planned to reopen or already have done so.

"As bad as the situation was, it was truly awe-inspiring to watch the town come together," Pascoe said.

As the chief and mayor drove past the 3rd St. Gallery, owners Phil and Jean Salvato flagged them down and ran out to give them cards announcing an exhibition opening Friday that they had decided to go ahead with despite flood damage.

"Those people are amazing. During cleanup, they would have the door open and music playing," Harbin said. "The spirit is still here."