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Stimulus to pump $8.3 million into flood control

Money for Scranton project part of $22.7M coming to Northeastern Pennsylvania to protect region.

By Jennifer Learn-Andes jandes@timesleader.com
Luzerne County Reporter

Scranton will receive $8.3 million for the Scranton Flood Control Project as part of $22.7 million in stimulus money awarded to Northeastern Pennsylvania projects, officials announced Wednesday.

The $8.3 million will help fund needed construction for the $55 million Scranton Flood Control Project, which will protect hundreds of homes and businesses from flooding, the release said.

Three other projects received stimulus funding:

• $4.8 million to upgrade multiple sections of the Francis E. Walter Dam, which borders Luzerne and Carbon counties.

• $2.3 million to help reduce mine runoff pollution in Nanticoke Creek in Hanover Township. The nonprofit Earth Conservancy will oversee the project.

• $7.3 million to improve a giant basin that collects water runoff from the Back Mountain.

The basin off Division Street in Pringle, which is part of the Wyoming Valley Levee system, holds and diverts water from the Toby Creek watershed so Pringle and Kingston aren’t flooded.

Rising basin water is gravity-pushed into a 16-foot-wide underground pipe to a pumping station in Edwardsville, where it is then forced into the Susquehanna River.

The decades-old basin needs a new spillway and higher walls – a project estimated to cost about $10 million, said county Flood Protection Authority Director Jim Brozena.

Existing federal funds have allowed the county to start raising the basin walls, but the spillway work would have had to wait until next year or longer, depending on the availability of federal funding, Brozena said.

“We are appreciative of all of the efforts of our federal officials that allow us to move forward with this work,” Brozena said.

The basin was crucial during the June 2006 flooding of Toby Creek. The county obtained $198,740 in federal funding last year to scoop out 15,000 cubic yards of debris deposited in the basin by the flooding.

With diminished capacity, the basin could have overflowed, causing water to back up into Pringle and spill into Kingston, potentially flooding the entire municipality, county officials said.

Spillway work is needed to make sure the rising basin water is properly directed, Brozena said.

“The spillway is like a dam. If you had a flood event that was large enough, you want the water to go out where you want in a controlled fashion,” he said.

The dirt walls of the basin are about 20 feet high and will be raised several feet, Brozena said.

“Just as we raised the levee, we have to do the same with the basin,” he said.

The funding was allocated to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as part of the recovery package enacted on Feb. 17.

U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, sent a letter on Feb. 18 to U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) John Paul Woodley requesting some of the funding for the Scranton and Wyoming Valley Levee projects, according to a release.

“These projects will provide jobs in the area while also protecting Northeastern Pennsylvanians from floods and environmental hazards,” Kanjorski said in a release.