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WILKES-BARRE — While the city continues to seek funding for a comprehensive Solomon Creek flood control project, it’s addressing a related problem with the construction of a pumping station.

Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tony George said the money is available to proceed with the station planned for Vulcan Street near the border with Hanover Township.

The station has been part of the overall flood control project and once it’s built, it could help in the city’s effort to have the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers take another look after a cost-benefit analysis led them to back away. The benefits go up as the total cost goes down with the city taking on more work, the mayor said.

“In the meantime, we have to do something,” George said Thursday.

The pumping station is listed in the progress report issued Sept. 28 by the city on its participation in the Luzerne County Hazard Mitigation Plan 2014 update. The document details the steps the city and county are taking to reduce the number of injuries and deaths, the extent of damage to property and natural resources and economic losses caused by natural and man-made disasters.

The addition of the pumping station was identified as “the most appropriate mitigation measure” for the Geisinger South hospital, formerly Mercy Hospital, in South Wilkes-Barre. To build the station, the city is transferring a $200,000 award from the state’s impact fee on natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale and $425,349 from a Local Share Account grant from gambling revenues from the Mohegan Sun Pocono casino in Plains Township.

The LSA grant originally was approved for the design and oversight of repairs to 350 feet of the stone wall of the channel for the creek. The money has since been directed to cover the design costs of the pumping station, according to the progress report. The city is looking for other funding for this project.

Other projects listed in the report have either been completed or are in the process of getting done:

• Flood proofing an electric utility substation near Mill Creek, completed in 2013.

• Replacement and repair of the flood wall along Mill Creek, completed this year.

• Removal of encroachments within the easement for the Mill Creek Flood Protection Program, completed this year.

• Construction of a new $2.7 million bridge on Sidney Street over Mill Creek, completed in 2015.

• Retrofitting the floodgates on the South Franklin, Regent, Barney and Waller street bridges over Solomon Creek, design proposals to be put out for bid.

• Flooding issues along Coal Brook, to be addressed by the city, the county and Wilkes-Barre Township.

• Winter weather hazard, the city purchased five new dump trucks and four, four-wheel drive pickup trucks, all equipped with plows and spreaders. The city also budgeted funds to hire independent snow-removal contractors during severe snow storms.

The report also contained a supplement, listing the city’s work with the Eastern PA Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation and Land Studies Inc. on a Green Action Plan. Their efforts aim to address flood-prone areas in ways that are “useful and pleasing to the eye,” such as improving stormwater management practices and reducing nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment discharge into the Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay.

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By Jerry Lynott

[email protected]

Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott