Export officials break ground on Turtle Creek flood project
Export officials broke ground last week at the site where three feet of floodwaters had ravaged borough businesses.
For years, officials researched ways to stop the damage a torrential storm could inflict on the community.
"There was genuine carnage unleashed on Export," Mayor Michael Calder said. "We're not here to make it stop, but to make sure it never happens again."
A flood control project -- decades in the making -- began this month. Nearly a dozen damaging floods have ravaged the borough since the early 1900s, leaving officials and residents hoping the first phase of the $8.1 million project eases their flood worries.
The state Department of Environmental Protection has been working on the problem for decades, officials said at the groundbreaking. In 2006, DEP began developing the flood control project, which is expected to last until October 2012. Turtle Creek has overflowed during strong rains for years. The most recent flood in June 2009 ravaged businesses and homes. The remnants of Hurricane Ivan caused flooding in September 2004.
Project overview
DEP plans to create a bypass stretching from the Puckety Drive Bridge to the Kennedy Avenue Bridge, near the American Legion, which will alleviate flooding once creek waters reach a certain height.
Water will be channeled to the culvert and carried past the business district. A levee upstream will direct water into a 1,315-foot-long rectangular channel that will allow low-flow waters back into the creek.
Rapid-flow water will continue through a 2,905-foot-long culvert that will slow the torrent before it is redeposited in Turtle Creek.
"This phase is going to make a lot of difference," said Andrew Reed, project engineer with DEP. "It's going to be a big improvement, especially by Dura-Bond (Industries). But they're not going to have the full 100-year protection until the second phase."
That phase calls for installation of a flood control dam in the borough. While there is no timetable for the second phase, Reed said he expects officials to "get on it soon."
Export is responsible for about $190,000 of the project, which includes utility adjustments, operation and maintenance. Charles J. Merlo Inc. of Mineral Point was awarded the construction contract in July.
The project will require the demolition of a log cabin along Old William Penn Highway and a bridge. The bubbling flow of Turtle Creek that runs beside the highway will remain, Reed said.
"The community will always have flowing water; we're just going to divert the faster flow," Reed said. "This whole mountainous valley needs these sorts of projects."
