Greene County residents keep watch on Katrina
WAYNESBURG – As Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana officials sifted through the deadly damage caused by Hurricane Katrina Tuesday, Greene County officials began preparing for the onslaught of the massive storm as it made its way inland. After suffering extensive damage one year ago when the remnants of Hurricane Ivan devastated area roadways, county planners and emergency officials kept watchful eyes on the sky Tuesday, hoping the worst would pass the county by.
The National Weather Service in Pittsburgh predicted between 2-4 inches of rain could deluge the district in a 24-hour period that ends this morning.
“Right now we are looking at the classic flood prone areas as possibilities, but there should not be districtwide flooding and nothing as bad as Ivan,” NOAA Meteorologist Lee Hendricks said.
Hendricks said Hurricane Ivan, which blasted through the region in September 2004, just nine days after Hurricane Frances dumped about four inches of rain on the tri-state area, dumped as much as 11 inches of rain causing major flooding across southwestern Pennsylvania, something Greene officials are trying to avoid.
“We are keeping a very close eye on this,” Greene County Commissioner Pam Snyder said. “Our Emergency Management team and human services and our maintenance teams are all engaged and ready.”
Earlier this year, the Greene County Association of Township Officials met with representatives from U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter and U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum’s offices to discuss the road collapses and slides.
Additionally, representatives from state Rep. H. William DeWeese and state Sen. Barry J. Stout’s offices, along with Snyder and commissioner Dave Coder attended the workshop-style meeting.
And just last month, U.S. Rep. John Murtha met again with county leaders to discuss issues facing the county, including the barrage of spills and slips as a result of Hurricane Ivan.
Snyder said Tuesday that Murtha is working to find federal funds to help alleviate the road crisis facing the county and added with the inclement weather, the county is doing all it can to prevent another Ivan-like situation.
Snyder said Hurricane Ivan was the first disaster she worked as a commissioner and that she and the other commissioners developed the emergency team to ensure the next time there was a disaster the county would be ready to apply for state and federal assistance.
“We have people ready to take pictures across the county and feed then to Jeff Marshall so we can get immediate response.”
According to County Emergency Management Director Jeff Marshall, the county was declined for federal aid after the 2004 storms, leaving county and township officials without financial solutions.
And since the last massive flooding in September 2004, an additional $2.7 million in damage has been estimated across the county from mudslides and other problems caused by the high waters and additional heavy rainfall will only worsen the situation.
The flooding from Ivan was the second major flood in a 10-month stretch to deluge the county.
According to the state Department of Transportation, in 2004-05, the region was hammered by heavy, steady rains associated with the remnants of Hurricane Ivan and four inches of rainfall recorded in 24 hours in January.
The increased water caused loose soil that the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources said is indigenous to the southwestern corner of the state, to fall from area banks and into roadways in 307 individual locations.
PennDOT estimated the landslides will cost $10,820,170 to repair.
The individual costs to the township are extreme, with most totals more than doubling the annual budget for the municipalities.
Center Township was hit the hardest, with $1,774,070 followed closely by Morris Township, which sustained $1,432,300 in damages.
Estimated damages in Richhill Township also exceeded the $ 1 million mark at $1,123,500 and damages in Cumberland are estimated at $990,000.
Franklin, Dunkard, Jefferson, Springhill, Aleppo, Gilmore, Washington, Perry, Morgan and Jackson all suffered more than $350,000 in estimated damages.
Wayne and Whitley townships both suffered more than $200,000 in estimated damages and Freeport sustained about $65,000 in slide damage.
According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, more than $735,000 in funds were dispersed to Greene County residents, including more than $300,000 in grants after the flooding.
Statewide, about 35,500 residents and businesses had applied for federal disaster assistance, including housing grants and small business loans, with more than $71 million dispersed by the close of 2004.
In the November 2003 flood, about 315 single-family and mobile homes were damaged to varying degrees and 72 businesses were affected in Greene.
More than 900 homes and businesses sustained damage over the six-county region.
Those are figures Snyder and Marshall don’t want to tabulate again.
“We are just watching and waiting,” Marshall said.