SHAMOKIN - A porch on a Sixth Street home was in danger of collapsing Saturday night, but city officials braced the structure to keep it from spilling into Route 61.
"It was popping and creaking," Richelle Lloyd said at 8:45 p.m. of 823 N. Sixth St. while she and her husband, Jeffrey Lloyd, watched city officials investigating their home in which the front porch pillars appeared to be leaning.
The Lloyds bought the house a month ago, making the first mortgage payment only days ago.
The storm this week put at least seven inches of water in their basement, and although they have been pumping the water out for more than a day, the water level stayed the same. A hose
snaked out of the basement doors, facing the street, and released a trickle of water into the road.
"It doesn't look good," Shamokin Fire Chief Bruce Rogers told the couple.
Crews gathered at approximately 8:30 p.m., redirecting traffic away from the block. The city engineer looked inside and outside the property to assess the situation.
Originally, Rogers said they believed the whole house might be structurally unsound, but the fire department structural engineer checked the beams and foundation of the house and reported it to be strong.
The fire department pumped water out of the basement to relieve some of the pressure, and then braced the structure with wooden beams to contain the potential collapse, thus allowing the engineer to take a closer, safer look.
The solution was only temporary, and the Lloyds will have to repair the damage themselves, Rogers said.
The couple would likely be allowed back inside the house after crews were finished, he said.