Mon Valley Sewage Authority acts on flood claim

By JEFF STITT
jstitt@yourmvi.com
Donora resident Ruth Koontz said her outlook on the future is bleak after leaving a special Mon Valley Sewage Authority meeting Thursday morning.
She learned it will be up to the sewage authority’s insurance provider to determine if she will be awarded any money to fix damages to her Gilmore Avenue house and replace personal belongings, a water heater, washer, dryer and furnace that were damaged as a result of recent flooding.
At the request of its directors, Koontz presented the authority board and solicitor Aaron Bialon with a cost appraisal estimate of more than $20,000 worth of damages sustained as a result of one of six floods her home has experienced this year.
She also provided a copy of her homeowner’s and flood insurance policies, and a cover letter in which Koontz informed the board of her anguish, the dates her house was flooded with raw sewage and each time she filed a claim with her insurance.
After reviewing the letter, which was not made public, the board went into a private executive session.
Koontz’s house had 16 inches of sewage water in it the week of Sept. 10 when more than six inches of rain fell in the Mon Valley. The flooding caused more than $20,000 in damages to items that had just been replaced after a June flood, she said.

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