Engineers recommend levee for West Pittston

Oct. 10--EXETER -- A team of engineers that have been studying flood-control options for West Pittston to avert another flooding disaster like the one that hit in 2011 recommends building a levee to protect the borough.

The recommendation, revealed Wednesday night at a public meeting at Wyoming Area High School in Exeter, calls for a 1.6-mile flood-control barrier along Susquehanna Avenue -- a combination of an earthen levee and a flood wall.

Costs estimates range between $47.7 million and $49.9 million.

"Obviously the hard work is to find the funding," said James Brozena, the former Luzerne County engineer who served as a project manager of the study produced with engineering firms, Borton Lawson and Reilly Associates.

The town of Bloomsburg in Columbia County is in the middle of a similarly sized project and funded it fully with federal and state grant money with no extra costs to residents, he said.

"If Bloomsburg did it, there's no reason West Pittston can't," Brozena said. "This study gives us a document we can show federal and state legislators and say, 'Here's the plan. Give us the money and we're ready to get started.'"

A proposed earthen levee would begin near the River Shores housing development near the border of Exeter and be about 14 feet tall. The levee, which could include a walking trail atop like in Kirby Park in Wilkes-Barre, would run to about halfway between the Water Street and Fort Jenkins bridges.

Because there wouldn't be enough room to continue with an earthen level, the barrier would become a flood wall for a third of a mile before becoming an earth levee again near the intersection with York Avenue. The earth levee would continue to Clyde Street near where the Lackawanna River enters the Susquehanna River.

Like in downtown Wilkes-Barre, the levee could have a portal leading to a riverside recreation area. The portal could easily be closed and secured during flooding events, officials said.

To build the levee and flood wall, Susquehanna Avenue likely would have to be narrowed by about 10 feet, making it a one-way road.

About 900 properties in West Pittston were inundated in September 2011 following historic flooding due to Tropical Storm Lee. The river crested in Wilkes-Barre at a record of 42.66 feet.

The barrier around West Pittston will be designed to protect three feet above the levels experienced in 2011, Brozena said.

Under current flood maps, about 400 properties in West Pittston are in the floodplain. Because of the flood of 2011, nearly 900 properties will be included in updated maps that are soon to be released, Brozena said.

He stressed that borough residents who never bought flood insurance before should get ready to do so because the flood map is changing "dramatically."

The projected time frame, from design to construction of a levee, is four to five years, officials said.

'We're confident in the time frame," said Tom Lawson, of Borton Lawson Engineering.

Lawson is involved in the levee project in Bloomsburg.

Like West Pittston, Bloomsburg wasn't unable to get approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer for the federal government to take on the project. So the town did it by itself, Brozena said.

Following the 2011 flood in West Pittston, the Army Corps of Engineers conducted a feasibility study, giving the project a price tag of $51 million. In 2017, the corps later determined the project had "insufficient benefits to warrant federal interest."

The borough of West Pittston then sought the help of Brozena and the engineering firms.

In addition to a levee, the engineers considered several other options.

One option was as drastic as seeking the buyout of all 900 properties affected by the 2011 flood. That option would come at an unreasonable $135 million price tag and would cripple the borough's tax base, they said.

The idea of using a temporary inflatable dam or bladder system was shot own because it likely wouldn't be approved by federal officials and would burst during ice-jam flooding like the borough experienced several years ago.

Dredging the river in the area was ruled out, as the engineers said it would have minimal impact compared with a levee, face years of hurdles getting environmental permits and cost $250 million.

Several residents spoke during a question-and-answer session after the study presentation.

John Hannigan, a geologist form Delaware Avenue in West Pittston, questioned whether the levee is being designed with climate change in mind.

"All of the statistics are changing rapidly with our changing climate. Building to a 2011 event may not be sufficient," Hannigan said.

Don Hudock of Susquehanna Avenue in Exeter took issue with a claim made by the engineers that municipalities down stream will see no impact from a levee. Earlier in the presentation, the engineers said areas of the river upstream might see a several-inch increase because of the levee, but not downstream.

"I am upset. I feel we're being sacrificed and not included," Hudock said. "I'm here to tell you there is an impact. Your study is false. It's not true."

Brozena said the feasibility study will be available on West Pittston's website once the public comment is imputed in the report.

"Tonight might be the end of the feasibility study, but it's just the beginning of flood protection in West Pittston," Brozena said. "Projects like this are not a sprint, but a marathon."

Contact the writer:

[email protected]

570-821-2055, @cvbobkal

ON THE WEB: Information about the flood protection study for West Pittston that recommends building a levee will be available in the future at www.westpittstonboro.com/2019FloodStudy.

CONTACT: Questions and comments about the study can be emailed to levee [email protected].

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