Forks Businesses Happy to Be Back in Business

The country music was pumping through the speakers of on Sullivan Trail Thursday morning and Corinne Kraus and a fellow stylist were taking care of customers. Yes, SuperCuts was back in business.

Three weeks after sunk the shop following , SuperCuts reopened Wednesday and customers like Hans Lauten of Palmer Township were coming back.

"I come here all the time," Lauten said. "I didn't get a haircut at all. I'm a loyal customer. I figured they wouldn't be closed that long."

The businesses at 1855 Sullivan Trail were shut Aug. 28 by a water main break and , but Forks Township gave permission this week for all but one to .

The location is home to Ivy Cleaners, SuperCuts, Restaurant and CC Wireless. , which sustained the majority of the structural damage, remains closed as repairs continue.

Other businesses are trying to bounce back from damage caused when the hurricane ripped through the region.

Over at nearby , owner Dennis Gouskos said the restaurant suffered four feet of flooding in its basement.

A report issued by Public Works Director Mark Roberts stated that the eatery had 38,000 gallons of sewage in the basement with damage estimated at between $20,000 and $25,000.

Gouskos said Hurricane Irene made business difficult because every nearby road -- those around the Bushkill Creek and Zucksville Road --were closed for flooding. He said the township's pipes got clogged up during the storm, causing sewage to back up into the restaurant's basement.

He said his business, which had to close for four days for the basement cleanup, was one-third of what it was normally around the Labor Day weekend.

"This August was the worst month we've ever seen," said Gouskos about the restaurant, which has been at its township site for five years. "For us, August is a big month with ice cream and hot dogs. From last August, our business was down over 25 percent. Now we're back to normal."

That's music to the ears of Kraus as well.

The Monday morning after Hurricane Irene, the stylist found out that the sinkhole damage was going to take longer to fix.

"I started to figure out that this wasn't going to be temporary," she said, adding that she took hours at the other location in Easton and another in Allentown.

The business, which employs six people, left a recorded message telling customers what happened and suggesting they visit the other locations.

Kraus is happy to be back now.

"I missed being here," she said. "I actually thought we'd be closed for a lot longer. When we reopened Wednesday, it was very slow. But the afternoon picked up. People seem excited that we're here again. I'm happy to be back -- back home."

Just recently it was announced that municipalities in Northampton County are now eligible for federal disaster relief funds, which include unemployment benefits. The county did not initially qualify for the funding following Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee.