Photo: An entire house and hundreds of bales of hay sitting in the road in Canisteo. Sarah Hjort watched the bales of hay rush past her home in South Canisteo.
By JOHN ANDERSON, jandersondigitalmedia@gmail.com
When Sarah Hjort (Sarah Piguet on Facebook) turned on her phone Friday afternoon to capture the flood waters rushing down into South Canisteo, she had no idea her video would reach 3.5 million views and help a rural area of New York and Pennsylvania.
But that’s exactly what happened. Sarah gave permission for the Wellsville Sun and Hornell Sun to use her video and share it, and it appeared on The Weather Channel, Fox News, CNN and all the major networks.
With the attention of that video, and another video shot by Josh Potter in Westfield. Pa., of a dog rescue, the Associated Press and the national outlets continued their coverage. The military got involved and more help is coming today.
For Sarah, she is dealing with damage to her new home and the fact, like many others, she does not have insurance. She had almost two feet of water damage in her home and her driveway collapsed, taking the large drainage pipe with it.
The woman who let the nation see we need help isn’t asking for help though. Instead, she has been posting GoFundMe links for others on her page and she continues to check on neighbors.
And, oh by the way, trying to explain to her son, Forest, why his birthday party today is a little chaotic! Forest turned 3, and all of the decorations washed away. But the family, Sarah, Carl White, and Clayton, 5 and Forest, 3 are making the best of it.
Sarah is pleased with the attention, but also upset with the lack of help our rural communities have received in the past.
“We all live in small towns, so when there is something like this, no one hears about it,” she said. “Three years ago, we had a flood in Canisteo and the Sherman Farm up the road lost everything and not that many people cared. They said ‘it was a one in 50-year flood.’ Well it happened again yesterday! Jasper school never opened. The government didn’t help re-open it or stop this from happening again and look at the damage the school received yesterday.
‘Meanwhile, insurance companies refuse to insure from South Canisteo to Woodhull and I am sure it will happen again,” Sarah added.
Above, the flooding during the storm from Sarah’s video and the photo below is later in the day.
When she turned her phone on to record the flooding, she also felt a lot of emotion.
“Literally, I was shaking, my heart was racing, and I was so worried about everyone downstream getting havoc from what was coming,” she said. “When I saw a woman in the window upstairs, I started shaking again, especially when I saw her propane tank floating away. I didn’t want her in the house alone.”
Sarah ended the livestream to get help for the woman. As the rescue squads arrived for a water rescue, she went to record the heroics of the volunteers in South Canisteo when her phone died.
When she turned it on? Almost 2 million views and hundreds of friend requests.
“Literally, my phone was blowing up all day long, people were checking if we were ok, friend requests and people asking us to go check on neighbors and their family,” Sarah said. “I spent most of the day on my phone, I was a little annoyed with some people, but the people I know and their families were concerned and worried. I wanted them to know people are ok and not to worry about us when they don’t need to.”
Her sister watched her video in Georgia on The Weather Channel. The views reached three million.
But Sarah and Carl finally realized they had their own issues. They moved in their new home one month and one day ago. And they do not have insurance.
“I’ve been playing phone tag for a while and finally they are getting me a quote,” Sarah said. “I talked to them on Wednesday and got the figures. Before I could get back to them (her voice trails off) … what are the odds?”
She looks down and says, “Our driveway is currently halfway in our lawn. The drainage ditch between our two driveways could not handle the water, the rocks plugged it up and we were flooded. Our driveway, it created a huge hole where the drainage ditch is, we need a new pipe and everything in there.”
But then she starts talking about her neighbors, Logan Drake and Kelly Burdock, they live in the yellow and brown house in the video. And the neighbors in the white home, Jennifer Hurlburt and Stephen Zschoche. What a way to meet your new neighbors.
“I hate to complain about our problems, it’s nothing compared to everyone else,” she said.
If you want to help Sarah, the family could use work on the driveway. Her email, which you can reach her at or send donations through PayPal is hjortsr@gmail.com.
Sarah, who works as a bartender at Applebee’s in Hornell, is still trying to find help for others thanks to her new fame on her platford.
“The village of Canisteo posted they are reaching out to emergency services, so I will share any information I get,” she said.
When I asked one more time what anyone could do for her she smiled and said, “Forest is having his birthday party if anyone can make it!”
And just as I thought Sarah could not have a bigger heart, she called just before the story could post. She tracked down emails for her neighbors whose homes are in the viral video if anyone. Kelly’s is kellyburdick5@gmail.com and Jen is jenpowers0723@yahoo.com.
Here is the reporting from the Hornell Sun and Wellsville Sun with two slideshows after:
• Canisteo firefighters and community say thanks
• Flood damage? What you should do, especially in Potter County
• John Anderson does national interviews, brings attention to help needed in the Southern Tier
• Flash flood in progress, roads closed
A slide show of the damage Sarah witnessed, with before and after photos:
Another slide show of damage:
