Bucks County Commissioners Urge Governor to Make Potential Flooding Top State Priority
Concerned that current issues may divert the state’s attention from addressing a pressing regional matter in Bucks County, today, the commissioners penned a letter to Governor Ed Rendell, calling for assistance to prevent another flooding episode along the Delaware River.
“We are writing to bring this concern to your attention and to ask for your executive intervention and prioritization of planning and response activities for potential ice jams and Delaware River flooding,” Commissioners Charles H. Martin, chairman, James F. Cawley, and Sandra A. Miller wrote. The commissioners alluded to a considerable amount of anxiety “among Bucks County residents who have been flooded three times in the past 24 months.”
The letter calls for the state to more aggressively deal with debris removal, free up PEMA (Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency) assets to coordinate this effort, and consider whether the National Guard has a role in breaking up the ice jams.
In the meantime, Bucks County has pressed ahead with its own efforts to come to a solution. The Bucks County Emergency Management Agency has reached out to the National Weather Service, PEMA, the Delaware River Basin Commission and the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission to try to identify a monitoring mechanism that will allow early warning, as well as identifying potential mitigation strategies to the ice jams.
The commissioners are resolute in their belief that this issue cannot wait, despite the other concerns Harrisburg is facing. They hope to receive a timely response which would include a cooperative, interagency approach with the state playing an integral role.
Add comment February 28th, 2007