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Corbett Calls For Flooding Infrastructure Probe

Scott Detrow / StateImpact Pennsylvania

The governor's mansion, braced for September flooding


Governor Corbett wants the General Assembly to examine how Pennsylvania’s infrastructure failings contributed to last month’s flooding along the Susquehanna River and its tributaries.
Scores of wastewater treatment facilities failed during the deluge, pouring toxic waste into the river.
The governor made his comments during a tour of flooding damage in Pine Grove, Schuylkill County, where his wife Susan grew up.
From the Times Leader:

“I want to take a thorough look. I think the House and Senate can help,” Corbett said Thursday in Pine Grove, where he toured flood damage. “I think some hearings on what we need to do to address this on a holistic aspect would be good to have here during the course of the fall and the winter.”
Corbett surmised that intensive development and a lack of maintenance of storm drains may have contributed to the severity of the flooding caused by the remnants of Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee. Thousands of homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed.
“I think we have to take a look at how developments are made, and how much water is running down into streams that frankly wasn’t running down into streams maybe 10, 15, 30 years ago,” Corbett said. “We have to do a little bit better planning.”

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