BLOOMSBURG - The call came just before 12:30 p.m., "Come get me."
It was the type of short and sweet message received by relatives of many students at Bloomsburg University, not long after the university advised students to make arrangements to safely leave Bloomsburg.
The university made the call after the most recent flooding caused a water shortage in the town.
Things are dire enough in the Columbia County seat that classes are canceled until Tuesday, with minimal services available for those students with no way out, according to the university's website.
In addition, PPL's website reported nearly 7,000 customers without power in Columbia County Thursday evening.
For relatives and rides home, getting to Bloomsburg was another issue.
Access from the south and east was severely limited. Westbound lanes of Interstate 80 were closed by state police troopers at least as far east as Hazleton, and several back roads were blocked off or threatened by angry road-side streams.
The bridge by the Bloomsburg Municipal Airport was closed. The bridge itself was dry, but it emptied into a virtual lake along Poplar Street. Likewise, the bridge at Rupert Drive in Catawissa was closed Thursday.
For many, the only route across the Susquehanna River was the Market Street bridge in Mifflinville to Route 11 into Bloomsburg.
At 3 p.m. Thursday, the National Weather Service advised the river level was at 28.7 feet and rising. The river is expected to crest in Bloomsburg at 32 feet, well above the 19-foot flood stage.