Water Damage Restoration in Apollo

We do, from down the river. The Kiski runs 27 miles from Saltsburg past Avonmore, Apollo, Vandergrift, Hyde Park, and Leechburg, then meets the Allegheny near Freeport. Our Tarentum shop sits a few miles below that meeting point. Apollo is in our home valley, and our Alle-Kiski Valley water damage crews are up this way every week.

Un-Flood-It has run out of Tarentum since December 2009. Brian Marra owns it, and he also owns the plumbing company 1-Tom-Plumber Pittsburgh. Our technicians are IICRC certified, and we carry PA Home Improvement Contractor License #PA080868. Apollo is one stop on all the Kiski and Allegheny towns we cover. The same trucks handle water damage down the Kiski in Leechburg and flood cleanup where the Kiski meets the Allegheny at Freeport.

The Kiski is the short answer. The town sits on the Armstrong County bank of the river, with Kiskiminetas Township behind it and North Apollo next door. The river drains a huge stretch of hill country, so rain that falls two counties away reaches Apollo hours later.

The worst day in Apollo's history came in March 1936. The St. Patrick's Day flood pushed the Kiski more than 15 feet above flood stage. Early on March 18, the Apollo Bridge turned into a dam as houses and debris piled against it, and at 4:30 a.m. it left its piers. The current turned straight into town and poured into the backs of the houses along Warren Avenue.

Ninety-five area homes were damaged or washed away. When the water fell, the mud lay six inches deep on the streets and in the basements. The Apollo Area Historical Society walked the town through it again on the 90th anniversary in March 2026.

The federal dams built after 1936 are the reason it has not happened again. In September 2018, the Army Corps of Engineers held back so much water at Conemaugh and Loyalhanna that the Kiski crested at 13 feet instead of 30. Without those dams, this valley would have seen its largest flood since 1936.

The floods we see most now are the fast ones. On August 28, 2013, two to three inches of rain fell in about two hours. A driver had to be rescued from a Jeep stuck in flood water on Warren Avenue, which carries Routes 56 and 66, at 11th Street. One North 11th Street homeowner found more than three feet of water in his basement. On July 1, 2025, slow-moving storms dropped up to 3 inches of rain, Warren Avenue closed again under water, and calls for flooded basements came in across the region all afternoon.

The sewers add to it. Towns across the Alle-Kiski Valley have been under a federal directive to separate aging pipes that carried sewage and stormwater together. The Kiski Valley treatment plant in nearby Leechburg still holds a permit for two storm overflows into the river, because stormwater can enter the sewers and overwhelm them.

The houses finish the picture. About 60% of Apollo's homes were built before 1940, and three of every four went up before 1960. Those old basements seep when the ground is soaked and back up when the sewer surges.

Water losses cannot wait for a callback, so we run around the clock, weekends and holidays included. From Tarentum we cross the Allegheny and head up the valley on Route 56 to Warren Avenue, with extraction and drying gear already on the truck. Apollo, North Apollo, Kiskiminetas Township, and the 15613 ZIP all get the same crew. We are close, and we get there fast.

Speed is physics, not a sales line. Water wicks up drywall by the hour and soaks into subfloor and framing. Pull it out fast and you save the material. Wait a day and you replace it. That is the point of calling the crew already in your valley.

We do not pack up when the floor feels dry. We pack up when the meters say it is dry. We map the moisture, including the water hiding in walls and under floors. We pull the standing water with high-powered pumps, set air movers and dehumidifiers, and sanitize when the loss calls for it. A final inspection confirms the structure is back to safe moisture levels.

Water, sewage, and mold are all we do. If river water or a backed-up drain came up through the basement floor, treat it as dirty and stay out of it. That water calls for sewage backup cleanup for Apollo basements, and we bring the right gear on the truck. Standing water left too long grows mold in a day or two, so we also handle mold remediation when a loss sat wet. We do not sell fire restoration, rebuilds, or plumbing repair, so our drying advice never pads a construction bid.

The paperwork runs alongside the pumps. We photograph and log the loss as we work, then bill your insurance company directly. Your policy and the cause of the loss decide what is covered. You still choose who does the work. It is your claim.