Three Northeastern Pennsylvania counties won’t get federal help to pay for September flooding damage.
Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Deanne Criswell denied Gov. Josh Shapiro’s appeal of the agency’s earlier denial of public assistance money for Lackawanna, Luzerne and Wyoming counties.
Getting the money requires President Joe Biden declaring a major disaster.
“After a thorough review of all the information contained in your initial request and appeal, we reaffirm our original findings that the impact from this event is not of the severity and magnitude that warrants a major disaster declaration,” Criswell wrote in a letter dated Friday to Shapiro.
Criswell first denied the request for public assistance and hazard mitigation funding in December. Shapiro appealed a month later. He argued new damage estimates showed the counties meet the threshold for getting money.
Public assistance helps governments and certain nonprofit organizations rebuild damaged roads, bridges and other infrastructure.
Hazard mitigation means rebuild in a way that reduces future damage, including buying out the owners of chronically flooded homes.
The counties sustained major damage Sept. 9 when heavy rains produced flash flooding. The affected areas included the Abingtons and parts of Scranton in Lackawanna County, the Back Mountain in Luzerne County and all over Wyoming County.
Two Lackawanna County residents died as the flooding also washed out roads and bridges and closed other roads for days.
U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, who represents all of Lackawanna and part of Luzerne and one of several federal legislators who wrote Criswell in support of Shapiro’s appeal, said the decision “deeply disappointed” him.
“I saw firsthand the destruction and deadly impact these storms had. I know our communities deserve federal assistance. FEMA's methods and formulas for determining aid are clearly flawed and require reevaluation,” he said.
U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser, who represents the other part of Luzerne and all of Wyoming, expressed his disappointment, too.
"This decision from the Biden administration will leave residents and small businesses struggling to rebuild," Meuser said in a statement. "In the aftermath of September’s deadly flooding, I wrote to FEMA detailing the urgent need for federal funds and plan to do so again following today’s decision."
