Wyoming Valley Levee overseer seeking grant to avoid flood insurance rate hikes

May 19--Attempting to avoid flood insurance rate hikes, the Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority voted Tuesday to seek a $340,076 state grant for a fresh evaluation of two Wyoming Valley Levee system stretches.

A new evaluation is needed because a Federal Emergency Management Agency analysis after record 2011 Susquehanna flooding concluded the freeboard safety buffer atop the Plymouth and Wilkes-Barre/Hanover Township levee stretches is now inches below standard.

Accepting this conclusion would cause "financially catastrophic" flood insurance rate hikes for residents along both stretches, authority Executive Director Christopher Belleman has said.

Seeking to overrule this determination, the authority, which manages the levee, unanimously voted last month to launch a new risk assessment by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that does not deem freeboard a major factor. The Army Corps is confident FEMA will accept its analysis and not raise flood insurance premiums.

The accelerated levee system evaluation is projected to cost $796,180, and the expense must be equally split between the federal government and authority.

If awarded, the grant would cover most of the authority's half of the evaluation. The grant would require a $60,000 authority match.

The authority is seeking the Act 13 Flood Mitigation Program grant through the Commonwealth Financing Authority.

Authority officials plan to brief officials in the three impacted municipalities about their plan and have started urging state legislators to advocate for the grant award, Belleman said Tuesday.

Because funding must be lined up, the U.S. Army Corps assessment is not set to begin until November.

Authority board members said they would have to reconsider how to proceed if the grant is rejected. The authority has limited funds and primarily relies on a fee from levee-protected property owners to cover ongoing maintenance and repairs of the flood-control system, Belleman has said.

The failure to meet the required 3-foot freeboard standard was blamed largely on increased storms, development and river sediment and tree growth, officials have said.

The Kingston-to-Exeter levee stretch still meets the freeboard standard because it's on higher ground, officials have said.

In other business Tuesday, the authority approved a flood response plan. Belleman said he updated and expanded the written protocols with input from county Emergency Management Agency Director Lucy Morgan and others.

Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.

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