Accreditation restoration recommended for 2 Wyoming Valley Levee reaches

Property owners protected by the Wyoming Valley Levee system’s Plymouth and Wilkes-Barre/Hanover Township reaches may avoid significant flood insurance rate hikes.

Insurance increases were proposed because federal analysis had concluded the “freeboard” safety buffer atop both levee stretches is now inches below the standard 3 feet for a variety of reasons, including increased runoff to the Susquehanna River from new development, a larger quantity of river sediment and tree growth and more frequent and intense storms attributed to climate change, officials have said.

As a result, both stretches did not qualify for accreditation, or federal confidence a levee will provide adequate base flood risk reduction for insurance and building requirements. Commonly known as a “100-year flood,” a base flood has a 1% chance of occurring or being exceeded in any given year.

In response, Luzerne County’s Flood Protection Authority, which oversees the levee, convinced the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to perform a fresh risk assessment using revised evaluation techniques that no longer deem freeboard a major determining factor, authority Executive Director Christopher Belleman said Thursday.

The Army Corps released its final report last week recommending both levee reaches be accredited for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s flood insurance program, Belleman said.

The Army Corps forwarded its recommendation to FEMA, which will make the final decision on accreditation, he said.

“We’re hoping that this is it and that they won’t find any issues with the Army Corps report,” Belleman said.

Belleman has not received feedback on when a decision may be reached.

The Army Corps recommendation, which took two years to plan and execute, did not hinge on the authority completing any modifications to the two levee reaches, Belleman said.

Belleman said he is confident accreditation is warranted because the entire levee system is well-maintained and held back the Susquehanna when the river rose to a record 42.66 feet in September 2011.

The authority and federal government equally shared the cost of the Army Corps assessment, with each paying approximately $400,000, he said. Belleman said the investment was necessary to “save a lot of people the pain of increased flood insurance premiums” that he had described as “financially catastrophic.”

Wilkes-Barre Mayor George Brown issued an announcement Thursday about the recommended accreditation for the Wilkes-Barre/Hanover Township reach, saying the city and adjoining municipalities had participated in an appeal with the county flood authority. The Army Corps recommendation is a “major step” in obtaining full accreditation, he said.

“As mayor, I am fully committed to achieving complete accreditation to assure no city resident faces the financial burden of increases in already costly flood insurance premiums,” Brown said.

Kingston-to-Exeter

This levee stretch remains accredited and still meets the freeboard standard because it’s on higher ground, Belleman said.

However, Belleman said the Army Corps recently started a risk assessment, at no cost to the authority, for the Kingston-to-Exeter stretch because this part of the levee system had some drainage issues and boils in 2011.

“Because of those issues, they felt it would be a good idea to put the system through a risk assessment,” he said.

As with the other two reaches, this assessment should be completed in approximately two years, he said.

Belleman said he is not aware of any levee alterations that would be necessary to remain in compliance, although it is possible the assessment may identify something that must be fixed.

“Of course we’ll do whatever we can to maintain that accreditation,” Belleman said.

To ensure this risk assessment factors in the latest data, the authority authorized an interior drainage study to document all municipal stormwater infrastructure improvements that have been made in Kingston, Forty Fort and other communities along the levee reach, Belleman said.

The authority is splitting the cost of the drainage study with the Army Corps, with each paying approximately $95,000, he said.

This study also may help avoid proposed flood insurance increases in Kingston and other communities along the levee reach that are not tied to the levee accreditation, Belleman said.

Some properties were added to high-risk flood insurance zones in the proposed new maps due to projected water ponding, he said.

In Kingston alone, the proposed new FEMA flood maps had moved an estimated 330 properties into a high-risk “special flood hazard area.” Kingston officials had argued the new map ignored the borough’s own internal stormwater pump stations that prevent flooding.

For now, FEMA’s 2012 flood maps remain in effect, although there is discussion about implementing the new ones by the end of this year, Belleman said.