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Politics & Government

Flood More of an Inconvenience than a Disaster in Easton

Roads and parks expected to reopen in a few days at most, officials say.

So far, flooding in Easton seems to have caused, and other than six individuals arrested for crossing police lines, no incidents related to the flood took place overnight, city officials said today.

"I think the city fared pretty well," said city administrator Glenn Steckman. “We're getting the roads back open as the opportunity arises.”

In the case of Route 611 north of the free bridge, that could be as early as this afternoon, said Easton Public Works Director David Hopkins, as he surveyed the flood's effects on Riverside and Scott parks a little after noon today.

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Larry Holmes Drive south of the bridge could be open by tomorrow if the waters recede at the expected rate, Hopkins said, adding that Scott and Riverside parks will probably both reopened by the end of the weekend.

The Delaware River crested overnight at 29.23 feet, nearly two feet short of earlier predictions, and has since been on a slow decline.

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"Now it's just a matter of cleaning up," Steckman said.

As the waters recede, the Easton Fire Department will be assisting with pumping out basements, and code department personnel will be working with them to certify safety conditions and get people back in their homes as soon as possible, he added.

The cost of the second flooding event in two weeks has not been calculated, and even coming up with an estimate can be difficult if not impossible, said Chris Hegele, the city's finance administrator.

"Every flood is different, kind of like snowflakes," Hegele said.

While clean up is ongoing and amounts won't be tallied until next week, the main costs will be in labor and overtime for police and emergency services, officials have said.

Public works has incurred no overtime to date, Hopkins said, and only expects to pay a small amount for personnel to scrub and reopen Larry Holmes Drive between the free bridge and South Third Street on Saturday, Hopkins said.

Steckman said it's too early to tell if the city will be eligible for reimbursement of costs associated with this latest flood, despite President Obama's declaring Pennsylvania a disaster area. The damage must meet certain criteria to be eligible, he said.

"We tried to be cautious about spending too much money," Steckman said, noting that if the city qualifies for disaster aid, affected residents may too.

Even though the city as a whole fared very well through the flood, along the Bushkill Creek, some citizens were not as lucky.

Mayor Sal Panto said at a press conference late Friday that flooding along North Delaware Drive was worse than it has been in years, and blamed upstream development for the problem, saying the waterway "is becoming nothing more than a runoff basin for all the new developments in the area."

He added, "(Those residents) did lose a lot and they have a lot of clean up to do right now."

Meanwhile, as the waters recede, officials hope some weekend events will still go off as originally planned. The , scheduled for Scott Park and now planned for the Centre Square may be moved back to its original location if it dries out enough.

And while it is hoped the Via Marathon, which concludes in Easton's Centre Square, will be able to keep the planned course, a certified alternate race route has been created, just in case, Panto said.

The equipment in both Scott and Riverside parks is supposed to be flood proof, Panto said, adding "We'll know if it is when we turn the lights on."

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