Flood victims protest DEP to get debris out of creek

MATT HUGHES

mhughes@timesleader.com

WILKES-BARRE – A group of Wyoming County residents protested in front of the state Department of Environmental Protection’s Northeast Regional Office on Public Square Saturday.

The protesters are residents of the Windy Valley section of Forkston Township whose homes were devastated by flooding of Mehoopany Creek after tropical storms Irene and Lee. 

They called on the state agency to remove debris from the creek to prevent future flooding.

Protester Tom McGlynn said large groups of trees and gravel bars were impeding and shifting the flow of the creek prior to the flooding and that the problem has been made worse by the recent storms.

The creek hasn’t been dredged since 1972, and some of the debris still clogging the creek has been there since 2006, he said.

The group believes DEP’s failure to maintain the creek contributed to the flooding of their homes and the washouts of roads and three bridges in Forkston Township, and that it will continue to lead to additional flooding and road washouts.

“The creek needs to be dredged,” McGlynn said. “The important thing is that the road repairs and the temporary bridges that they are building now will simply be destroyed again.”