U. SAUCON TWP., Pa. – One week ago Monday, massive flash floods barreled through southern Lehigh County leaving drivers stranded on Route 309 and homeowners dealing with water damage.
One woman in Upper Saucon Township is dealing with catastrophic damage to her home on East Hopewell Road.
Julie Gudz is living in a nightmare. Her Upper Saucon home that she’s invested significant time and money in, is currently uninhabitable. She was out of town when storms rolled through last week.
“A neighbor called me and asked how my house was because there was a lot of water in the area,” Gudz told 69 News. “She ended up going into the house, and then they found a whole wall collapsed in my basement.”
Photos taken by that neighbor show the severity of the damage to Gudz’s home that she’s lived in since 2021.
“I took the steps to waterproof my house,” Gudz said. “I had a company come and put in a whole new system, two new sump pumps, and that was about two and a half years ago. And I haven’t had a single issue. Everything’s been fine.”
“Currently, the house is balancing on two slabs of concrete,” she said.
She said slabs of concrete and support beams are the only things keeping her home from collapsing while 3 feet of mud coats her basement floor and is clogging the sump pumps.
“We’re kind of working with borrowed time with weather as well,” Gudz said.
As of right now, Gudz’s insurance company said they won’t cover the damage which is considered ground water and land movement. Gudz said repairs are estimated to cost six figures.
“I was told that it covers only ground damage, and if you get flooding, the ground damage is the problem so not to even bother, we’re not in a flood zone,” Gudz said. “It wasn’t required, and it wasn’t necessary.”
“I’m going to start crying. I got back yesterday, and it’s just really hard to know that you’re coming home and you can’t be home,” Gudz said. “I can’t live in here anymore. All of my belongings and everything are in here. It’s really not safe to enter the property.”
Gudz has been meeting with contractors and lawyers as she explores her options.
“I’m kind of numb right now, and I’m not sure what to do so I’ve just been talking to people trying to get help, reaching out to different lawyers and any experts or anything and just taking it day by day,” Gudz explained.
Clinton Mora is a reporter for Trending Insurance News. He has previously worked for the Forbes. As a contributor to Trending Insurance News, Clinton covers emerging a wide range of property and casualty insurance related stories.