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Permanent repairs planned for Falbo Road

By Christine Haines chaines@heraldstandard.Com 2 min read

Materials are being ordered for permanent repairs to be made Falbo Road in Perry Township, where a section of roadway washed out last weekend, resulting in the death of one area man.

Township Supervisor A.J. Boni said the section of road had been supported by a 100-foot long, 72-inch pipe that carries a tributary of Washington Run under the road. That pipe was washed out by the heavy rain late Friday night.

“We had between three and four inches of rain within a two- or three-hour period,” Boni said. “The most heartbreaking part of it is there was a loss of life.”

Thomas C. Whipkey, 37, of Perryopolis was killed around 1 a.m. Saturday when his car fell 27 feet into the ravine created when the road was washed out. The accident was discovered the following morning when a resident called to say the road had been washed out.

“It was just a horrific accident,” Boni said.

Boni said township crews were on the scene for about 14 hours Saturday making temporary repairs to replace the washed-out road.

“We ended up putting 40 feet of 36-inch pipe in and putting fill on top of that. It’s not perfect, but people can get in and out and we can get fire trucks and ambulances in and out,” Boni said.

Boni said engineers have been consulted and the repairs will be made using the same techniques and materials as were used in the past.

“It definitely won’t be any smaller. The engineers looked at it and it calls for a 72-inch pipe,” Boni said.

It had been just over 14 years since the last time Falbo Road washed out, Boni said — 14 years, 10 days, to be exact.

“Fourteen years ago we lost half the road when there was a smaller pipe in place,” Boni said.

Boni said there was no way to predict the intensity of the flash flooding that ripped the pipe out of the ground and collapsed the road last week. There are five homes on the far side of the washed-out area. Falbo Road is a dead-end road.

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