If the instincts of Mercer County Director of Public Safety James R. Thompson prove accurate, residents who suffered flooded basements or other structural damage from Monday's double-dose of storms probably shouldn't hold their breaths waiting for some type of state or federal aid. Municipal bodies, on the other hand, might be a different story.

Officials from the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency were expected to be in Mercer County as early as today to assess the storm damage, Thompson said.

Thompson said PEMA officials were in Crawford County Thursday and after completing their assessment there they were to come to Mercer County.

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