Bridgeville urging that federal funding for flood control be reinstated
Bridgeville Police Department
Officials in Bridgeville are hoping that a $5.3 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for flood control will be reinstated after it was announced the program dispersing the funds had been axed.
The grant was awarded through FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program in 2023 following repeated flooding in the borough, particularly in the areas around Baldwin Street and Carol Avenue. When McLaughlin Run went over its banks in June 2018 during a torrential downpour, one person died and businesses and homes in the area sustained more than $5 million in damage.
However, FEMA announced April 4 in a news release that the BRIC program was ending. The release characterized BRIC, which was created during President Donald Trump’s first term, as “wasteful,” “ineffective” and “politicized,” and that FEMA was returning to its “core mission of helping Americans recovering from natural disasters.” It stated that all applications made between 2020 and 2023 had been canceled, and the money would be returned to the U.S. Treasury.
The project includes a stormwater sewer system with a pumping mechanism, the construction of levees and the replacement of culverts. Aside from the $5.3 million grant from BRIC, the borough had already lined up $1.8 million in state funds and from other sources for it, and has paid $200,000 to cover permitting, engineering and legal compliance for the project. Permits have already been nailed down from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
In a message on social media, borough officials characterized the project as “a textbook example of good government and community-driven planning. The only barrier standing in our way now is the unexpected delay and risk of losing the BRIC funding due to hurdles beyond our control.”
Joe Kauer, Bridgeville’s manager, said that getting flooding in the borough under control is not only vital to protecting residents and property, but it would also kickstart development in the most flood-prone areas.
He noted that it might be possible to carry on with the project without the BRIC funding, but it would have to be done in smaller increments.
“It would be foolish to kick the can to the next generation,” Kauer explained. He added that the project would “give a glimmer of hope for redevelopment in our community.”
Kauer and other borough officials have called on residents to contact U.S. Sens. John Fetterman and David McCormick and U.S. Rep. Summer Lee to try to get the decision reversed.
Bridgeville is not the only municipality in Pennsylvania that has been left high and dry as a result of the termination of the BRIC program. Scranton had hoped to get $2.5 million to purchase flood-prone properties, and it has led the city’s mayor, Paige Cognetti, to appeal to have the funding restored.