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Lutherwood Residents Happy to Be Home

SCRANTON, Pa. —  Things are beginning to get back to normal for residents of a senior high-rise. Earlier this week, heavy winds ripped the roof off the bu...

SCRANTON, Pa. --  Things are beginning to get back to normal for residents of a senior high-rise. Earlier this week, heavy winds ripped the roof off the building, forcing an evacuation.

A few days have made a big difference at Lutherwood apartments. A little more than half of the building's residents are back home.

Welcome home balloons and hugs awaited Lutherwood residents at the end of a long week.

"Thank God nothing else happened, nobody was hurt. They did a terrific job. They did," said resident Shirley McLain.

McLain is back home earlier than she expected after heavy winds ripped the roof right off the place early Monday morning. McLain remembers helping her neighbor out during the evacuation.

"That big thing was right down over her room, I kept telling her, 'stay away from the window, stay away from the window,'" McLain recalled.

Residents of the building's first four floors are now allowed back.

The fifth and sixth floors saw the worst water damage. The people who live there will still have to wait to come home.

"Anything that was wet, we have to make sure that it's safe for our people to return. The apartments, I will say, had very little to no damage, even up on the sixth floor, so we're grateful for that," said Sandy Rostkowski.

The hallways were hit hardest. The walls are now down to the studs and the ceiling is gutted, too. It could be a few more weeks until floors five and six are fixed up.

But there is some relief and a reminder of what's so good about going home.

"We could not be more thrilled to have them back today," Rostkowski said.

"Everybody will be glad to get back in here, I'll tell you. It's terrific, It's God's blessing that we have family. It's God's blessing," McLain added.

Most of the residents were able to stay with family or friends over the course of this week. Some of the residents who are still waiting to come back are being put up in a hotel.

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