Belleman

Belleman

The federal government is awarding $11.176 million for flood mitigation work associated with the Wyoming Valley Levee along the Susquehanna River, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced Thursday.

“This is great news,” said Christopher Belleman, executive director of the Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority that oversees the 16-mile flood control system along the Susquehanna River.

Belleman said he just learned about the funding and has not received specifics on how the funds may be spent or when they will arrive.

It may allow the authority and state to be reimbursed for mitigation work that has been completed as part of the levee-raising, he said.

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This mitigation work was designed to help communities not protected by the levee and has included buyouts to get flood-prone properties out of harm’s way and enhanced flood warning and response initiatives, according to prior published reports.

“Although the physical construction of the levee-raising is long complete, there’s still a mitigation component we’re actively trying to complete,” he said. “This will allow us to do a final accounting and formally close out the levee-raising project.”

Completed in the early 2000s, the Wyoming Valley levee-raising cost around $175 million and was based on water modeling analysis performed in the mid-1980s, Belleman has said.

Wrapping up the levee-raising project, is “in everyone’s best interest,” Belleman said.

Many associated with the project have retired or changed positions, he said.

“It’s important while some are still around to get this project completed. I think everyone wants this off their books,” he said.

Belleman said he and the five-citizen authority board will discuss the funding as more information is received.

The authority relies on a fee paid by approximately 14,150 levee-protected properties to maintain the flood-control system.

According to a release from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District, the funding for the local levee comes from $62 million in supplemental funding it received to fund infrastructure and disaster relief projects in the Chesapeake Bay region.

Funding is from two recently enacted laws — the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the 2022 Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, the release said. The U.S. Army Corps received a total $22.81 billion in supplemental funding nationwide, it said.

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