Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato, left, chats with Irwin Lederstein, who's Oakdale store was devastated by Hurricane Ivan floods in 2004. Mr. Lederstein said water rose over five feet in his place, Sid's deli and bakery. An ice cream freezer, he said, was found in an auto repair shop 500 feet away. Mr. Onorato toured Oakdale and two other communities hit by the floods -- Millvale and Carnegie. He will tour other flood-damaged towns throughout the month.

By Ann Belser
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette As the volunteers in the kitchen of community center were readying the kielbasa, hot sausage and meatballs for the Millvale Days celebration this weekend, the scars that remain from Hurricane Ivan were barely visible.

It's been two years since rain from Hurricane Ivan caused the normally quiet stream of Girtys Run to rise 20 feet and surge through the borough, wiping out homes and businesses.

Yesterday, Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato returned to Millvale and made stops in two other flooded towns, Carnegie and Oakdale. He took other county officials and representatives of the Pittsburgh Foundation and the R.K. Mellon Foundation to see what progress has been made in the recovery and, over the next several weeks, they plan to visit other affected towns.

Their first stop was Millvale, where Mayor Vince Cinski said nearly 90 percent of the businesses affected by the flooding were up and running within six months.

Yesterday, Mark Panza was getting ready for an art show in his family's business, Panza Frame and Galleries.

It was a far different scene than the one Mr. Onorato saw on Sept. 22, 2004, five days after the Ivan flooding when he visited with President Bush. When the water hit, Mr. Panza said people at the frame shop tried to save their equipment by piling it on tables, but the water got too high too fast, and they had to abandon everything.

Mr. Bush stood on the front steps of Mr. Panza's flooded gallery and promised federal help. But Mr. Panza said his father, Salvatore Panza, grabbed Mr. Onorato and buttonholed him for a commitment of help from the county.

Mark Panza said the Federal Emergency Management Agency denied the Panza's request for aid and that it was local officials who helped his family reopen.

Local foundations provided grants that provided 80 cents to each dollar a business borrowed in interest-free loans from the county's department of economic development. Countywide, 80 businesses that were damaged by the flooding from Hurricane Ivan received a total of $911,817 in loans from the county and $740,869 in grants from foundations.

As Mr. Onorato walked along Grant Avenue, he visited other businesses that have reopened since the flood: The Attic music store, Yetter's Candies and Parkvale Savings Bank were all devastated, and have reopened. The Parkvale Bank is still in temporary quarters while a new building is being constructed on its old site.

Paula Interthal had owned her hair salon on Grant Avenue for 17 years when the waters from Girtys Run breached its banks. Yesterday she had two women sitting in her shop, with their hair wrapped in curlers and their heads under the dryers. Her salon, Shear Timing, used to offer tanning, body piercing and massage, but the tanning bed was destroyed, the woman who did the piercing moved away and her massage room was badly damaged and she has not restored it.

In all, she said, her business is down 50 percent from the day before the water came up 4 1/2 feet into her business.

"I'm concentrating on doing the hair and getting my hair business back again," she said.

In Carnegie, businesses have not bounced back as quickly.

Mayor Jim Pascoe said 200 businesses and 300 homes were affected by the flooding. All of the police cars were ruined and the public works garage was destroyed. Now the trucks are sitting out in the weather, which is causing them to rust.

Mr. Pascoe said about 50 percent of the businesses have come back. Other businesses remain closed.

"A lot of [the owners] had taken out loans to open up businesses and then we asked them to take them out again and they just couldn't do it," Mr. Pascoe said.