Marietta's Front Street and its sidewalks remained slick with mud this morning.
A watermark is evident on Shank's Tavern, along mud-slicked Front Street in Marietta this morning.
Marietta's sewage treatmentment plant was back in operation today after flood water receded, and police reported no looting or curfew violations during the flood emergency, it was announced at a 9 a.m. briefing in the borough.
After curfew was lifted at 7 a.m., UGI, PPL and emergency officials came to meet residents who had evacuated their Front Street homes. They planned to enter each home and assess the needs, according to borough spokeswoman Angie Shearer.
About 100 homes in the Front Street area were evacuated, with 300 to 400 people displaced, officials said.
Still, it could have been worse.
A traditional Marietta measuring stick showed this week's flood water fell short of earlier deluges from the Susquehanna River.
This morning the still-wet watermark on the wall of Shank's Tavern on Front Street was at about 2 feet below the 1936 watermark, and a few more feet below the 1972 watermark caused by Hurricane Agnes floods.
The river, swollen with rain from Tropical Storm Lee, crested here Friday around 58 feet. Residents bracing for a second crest Saturday morning were relieved that it didn't happen, according to one Hazel Street resident who'd been watching and waiting. (Hazel Street is one farther away from the river than Front Street; some residents got several feet of water in their basements but it did not reach their first floors.)
Front Street had the air of a ghost town early this morning, as it remained evacuated. More than an inch of slick mud covered the street and sidewalks, but no standing water remained.
On Hazel Street, residents were waiting for the power to be restored. Some pickup trucks filled with household goods were parked here and there. Residents who took the precaution of moving the contents of their first floors to friends' homes on high ground were ready to move items back into homes that were spared.
Susquehanna Regional police, county sheriff and Marietta officials' vehicles were seen patrolling the street early today.
Neighboring Mount Joy Borough lifted its disaster emergency declaration at 8 a.m. today, and officials announced water was safe to drink. Residents are being encouraged to conserve water there.
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