The Borough of Tyrone has submitted almost $190,000 in claims for damages to a borough-owned baseball field, reimbursement for emergency services and the cleanup of the Little Juniata River and the Schell Run catch basin as a result of last year\u2019s flood on Sept. 17 and 18.
\nBorough finance director Phyllis Garhart said the borough had just more than 200 overtime man-hours which it is seeking reimbursement for through funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The funds are available through what FEMA calls Public Assistance money made available to state and local governments and certain non-profit agencies.
\nThe overtime hours are for services provided by the borough during the two-day flood period at a cost of $4,763. The borough offered emergency services to its residents during the crisis. It is not eligible to receive reimbursement for regular hours worked by its employees during the period.
\nThe borough is also seeking reimbursement for a project which was completed in December in the area below the Ninth Street Bridge, as well as work done in the Schell Run catch basin.
\nThe borough bid out the Ninth Street Bridge project to have a cleanup of accumulated stone and other debris removed.
\nTyrone met with Department of Environmental Protection representatives in early October to secure a permit to do the work after a stone bar several feet in height had developed after the high waters.
\n During the DEP\u2019s visit in October, borough and state officials toured the area near the Ninth Street bridge as well as the flood control project in Schell Run near Shippen Street.
\nAn overall inspection of the flood control facilities along the Little Juniata River was also completed from the bridge upstream to the area of Hutchinson Run near the Ferner Baseball Field.
\nAfter the inspection was completed on Oct. 7, DEP approved an emergency permit to allow the borough to remove stone and silt from under the bridge. Such permits are for 30 days, however Mayor Patricia Stoner said DEP also granted two 30-day extensions.
\nThe low bid for the project was submitted by Blair Excavating of Tyrone for a price of $13,632.80 and Tyrone Borough Council approved the bid. The work was completed in December.
\nDEP told the borough a permit wasn\u2019t needed to remove the stone and silt at the flood control project at Shippen Street. Borough employees completed the stone and silt removal in that area.
\nEarlier this week, Garhart said the borough is seeking reimbursement for the cleanup below the Ninth Street bridge and the work done by the borough in the Schell Run catch basin.
\nGarhart said the borough\u2019s total costs for overtime hours on Sept. 17 and 18 and the cleanup projects is $22, 243. The amount was submitted to FEMA after field inspections were done by the agency.
\nGarhart said the borough is also seeking $167,450 for damages to the little league field. The borough owns the property but it is leased and operated by others.
\nJust this week, the Borough received partial eligibility approval from FEMA for the ball field (see box on page 2 for more details).
\nThe borough also owns the VFW Teener league field which sustained damages estimated at $25,000. The borough is attempting to seek funding to cover those damages.
\nShortly after the flooding, the borough\u2019s emergency manager, Jim Beckwith said damage to residential property and businesses was estimated to be at least one million dollars.
\nIn addition to FEMA money for municipalities, the agency also offered grant money to residents. Loans were also made available to businesses affected by the flood through the Small Business Administration.
\nSix months after the flood, Tyrone Borough continues to face criticisms about how it handled the situation and what could have been done prior to it and in the future to minimize the effects of an overflowing Little Juniata River.
\nResidents, particularly those on hard-hit Park Avenue have questioned what the borough could have done leading up to the flood, during the flood and what could be done now to prevent another one.
\nThe issue was addressed at an October Borough Council meeting where Rod Bohner, Blair County Department of Emergency Services Director of Operations, said, \u201cThe answer to what happened is it rained and it rained and it rained more than we ever had it rain before.\u201d
\n He explained it was clear problems had built up along the streams both before and after the flood.
\n\u201cThe ground never gets a chance to dry up and it just rains and rains,\u201d said Bohner at the time. \u201cSure the creek\u2019s built up. Stones build up every time there is a heavy rain. You have to have a DEP permit to go into the streams.
\n \u201cEverybody can get upset; I would be upset also,\u201d said Bohner. \u201cBut, if the DEP says you can\u2019t do something in the stream, you are going to get fined.\u201d
\nBohner said in his opinion, the borough had been \u201cnumber one\u201d in getting things done on the night of the flood and during the follow-up work in the weeks following the flooding.
\nBeckwith also addressed the concerns of one of the citizens who offered public comment.
\n \u201cAt no time did the flood control (at Clay Avenue) endanger any residents in the borough,\u201d said Beckwith.
\n He said he and Highway Department manager Vern Latchford had checked on the area several times on the night of the flood until it was no longer safe to enter it.
\n\u201cAt no time, was that flood control on Clay Avenue to the Juniata Creek on Park Avenue in danger of overflowing,\u201d said Beckwith.
\n\u201cThe sewers did back up…,\u201d said Beckwith. \u201cI don\u2019t know whether you can fathom what five inches of water in two hours can do. You could have had a sewer line 36 inches in diameter and it would have filled up. When it fills up, it takes the least path of resistance, that unfortunately, is going to be our cellars.
\n\u201c(The five inches of water) had to go somewhere,\u201d said Beckwith. \u201cWater always runs to the creek, and the creek overflew. It had to go somewhere; the sewer lines weren\u2019t big enough. I don\u2019t care what municipality it is, when it starts to rain at that magnitude, you are not going to be able to carry it away. The creeks could not carry it away fast enough.\u201d
\n Beckwith said, \u201cI felt the sewers and flood control did its job. The good Lord brought it upon us and there was nothing we as a borough or any elected official could do about it. There was too much rain in too short of a period of time.\u201d
\n Mayor Patricia Stoner asked borough department heads to address the public regarding the issues.
\n\u201cWe did everything we possibly could do,\u201d said the Sewer Department\u2019s Tim Nulton. \u201cWhen you have that much water coming in, there is nothing you can do.\u201d
\nIn Saturday\u2019s edition of The Daily Herald, Mayor Stoner and borough officials detail past efforts and what\u2019s been done since September regarding flood control.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Borough of Tyrone has submitted almost $190,000 in claims for damages to a borough-owned baseball field, reimbursement for emergency services and the cleanup of the Little Juniata River and the Schell Run catch basin as a result of last year\u2019s flood on Sept. 17 and 18. Borough finance director Phyllis Garhart said the borough […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43246\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}