Sunday, September 11, 2011 UPDATE

As you know, Hershey, Hummelstown, Derry and South Hanover townships (the areas where the Museum and our Annex are located)suffered severe flooding. The Museum, itself, suffered NO damage but was closed for 2 l/2 days mainly because highway Route 39 which serves it was closed to traffic. The MBT storage facility, George M Sage Memorial Annex, suffered severe flooding – reported to be in excess of Hurricane Agnes (1972). It crested 10 feet above any recorded flooding on record.

Earlier today, 4 MBT members (T. Mozer, E. Wolf, T. Collins, and D. Lehman) accessed the Annex – following is a recap of the damage:

- The Annex (garage) had 7 feet of water. Water entered the 7 buses which were housed inside….mud and debris in inside each of them.

- Waters flowed through the Annex with such force that our refrigerator, battery chargers, etc., were tossed around the building.

- The vehicles parked outside, in some cases, had water up to the top of the windshields and roof lines (see the previous aerial picture).

- The storage trailers were not able to be inspected (they have certain archives in them).

- Although the Swatara Creek has receded, mud is caked on the floor and items.

- Debris is scattered around the property and a segment of telephone poles have damaged our fencing. We also have garage door damage.

Now the good news:

- The bus fleet IS insured – our agent is Condon and Skelly, who we have been with for a number of years and has already been contacted.

- Bus insured values are those determined by the Appraisal done by Michaud Appraisals on the buses at or around the Annex, at the time of the appraisal range in value from $1,000 to $40,000 each--an adjuster is scheduled to visit the property in mid-week.

- Fortunately, there were a number of buses “off the property” (12 are located on the Museum floor, 2 were stored at the Museum, and 3 were away for restoration – and not affected)

Here’s where we need your help:

CLEAN UP WORK SESSIONS are slated for:

Tuesday, September 13th – 8:00 am to 4:00 pm

Wednesday, September 14th – 8:00 am to 4:00

Saturday, September 24th – 8:00 am to 2:00 pm

We are asking for as many people who can assist. Please bring/wear old clothes (you will be getting dirty!). Also please bring buckets and cleaning material. We will need mechanical assistance also.

We will come through this unfortunate episode (with the Creek rising so rapidly and so many buses not readily operational, it would have been impossible to move them – the entire surrounding area was affected).

Thank you for whatever support you can give us – we will survive!