WCCC to host workshop on flooding issues for municipal leaders

Flooding can cause problems for property owners, infrastructure and municipal budgets.

State Sen. Kim Ward wants municipal leaders to have tools they need to prevent those issues and respond to them after heavy rains, which have become more common during the past couple of years.

“When flooding happens, municipalities are caught in an emergency situation many times,” said Ward, R-Hempfield.

She is planning a workshop on Nov. 20 open to elected officials, managers and emergency management at the municipal and county levels. Offering resources will be officials from PennDOT, Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, the state Department of Environmental Protection, Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (PennVEST), the Westmoreland Conservation District and others who do grant-writing work with the state Senate.

Officials in several Westmoreland County municipalities scrambled as rain pounded the region on multiple occasions last year, pushing streams over their banks, causing sinkholes and damaging roads. Emergency responders rescued residents from their homes and closed roads until water subsided.

“When we get these heavy rains there are problems everywhere,” Ward said.

Homes along Brush Creek in North Huntingdon and Irwin were swamped by flood waters in July when 3.43 inches of rain was recorded at the Penn Township Sewage Authority in Level Green. Nine people were rescued from homes in Penn Borough during the same storm, which caused sewage backups in Jeannette homes.

North Huntingdon has been hit hard in the last couple of years with repair costs for roads damaged by rushing water. Flooding of Sewickley Creek in Lowber forced residents to be rescued from their homes in 2018 as the remnants of Tropical Storm Gordon dumped more than 6 inches of rain on the region.

Ward visited Jeannette in July after the storm and said that “put more urgency on” having the workshop.

“It’s scary when you have a budget and all of a sudden” municipalities need money to make repairs, she said.

About 50 people are registered for the workshop which will be video recorded and posted on Ward’s website afterwards. Municipal leaders should register in advance at senatorward.com/municipal-leaders-workshop.

The workshop is set for Nov. 20 at 6 p.m. at Westmoreland County Community College’s Science Hall Theater at 145 Pavilion Lane in Hempfield, near Youngwood. For more information, contact Ward’s office at 724-600-7002.