Flood summit draws officials
Published: November 11, 2009
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During last Thursday’s Flood Summit hosted in Lawton by U.S. Rep. Chris Carney’s office, Mike Lovegren takes local government officials on an inspection of how to determine the extent of a flood plain even when builders insist it’s not. STAFF PHOTO/ROBERT BAKER
Francis Flynn, of Flynn’s Stone Castle Store, said he wouldn’t wish a flood on anyone, but on Thursday was happy to share his experience if it would ease someone’s suffering down the road.
He addressed a gathering of around 35 municipal officials for a Flood Summit organized for Wyoming and Susquehanna County officials by U.S. Rep. Chris Carney’s office.
Flynn said that at 9 p.m. one June evening in 2006 as he was leaving for the evening the water in the Wyalusing Creek was getting pretty high from a constant rainfall.
He went home, but a couple hours later got a call from a tenant in an apartment above the store that he might want to come back as a dumpster floated down the creek.
“It was pretty ugly,” Flynn said, but he guessed others had similar horror stories.
Flynn said the good thing for him was that he had flood insurance and eventually collected $90,000 toward his losses.
His experience underscored the value of flood insurance, but also the double-edged sword of people who think it’s no big deal to build in a flood plain.
In the morning Carney’s field director Ed Zygmunt set the tone for the day with the question, “How can we be ready for the next storm so it doesn’t impact so many people.”
Those gathered, learned about ‘smart development,’ the latest flood maps being put together and what was being incorporated on them, and how to do some of your own internal auditsof people applying for permits in flood-prone area.
After Flynn’s brief talk those gathered went outside crossed the road and took a little field trip learning what kinds of critical decisions needed to be made .
Mike Lovegreen of Bradford County, who led the field trip said that because decision making rested on township supervisors’ shoulders, they needed to be versed in doing independent site inspections.
Although many municipalities work through COG in Susquehanna County as different from individual townships in Wyoming County, some clarity was offered to the local perspective and why building in a flood plain was typically not a great idea.
Fran Jones of the Lycoming County Planning and Community Development Department, who helped lead a little exercise for the supervisors, said the problem in America is “We’re Americans and we want to do with our properties what we want when we want.”
She added, “Sometimes Mother nature has to let us know that might not be such a good idea.”
