Flood victims await word on buyout
FORWARD TWP — More than a year after water rescue teams saved the Wright family from their flooded home, Charlotte and Tony Wright are still working to sell their land to the township as part of a program that helps municipalities acquire homes in hazardous flood areas.
The flood on Jan. 12, 2018, was the second that month and the latest in a decades-long series of catastrophic floods that frequently brought major damage to the family home.
But that year, the Wrights had enough.
The family applied immediately for the program after that January flood, saying the floods had become too much and that it's time to move, hopefully to another home in the township.
“I've been there 25-plus years, and it's been one bad year after another,” Charlotte Wright said. “I've rebuilt that thing five times.”
Still, the process is slow, with numerous government agencies, applications and approvals needed before the purchase can go forward.
On Tuesday night, Wright went to the supervisors meeting for an update and to ask for any help they could provide in expediting the process.
Officials said they've done everything they can on their end.
At this point, all the paperwork has been sent to the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, or PEMA, for approval, said Amy Marree, township emergency management coordinator.
She has been working with the township as well as with U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly's office to see the application approved and the property purchased.
“We are doing everything we can from the township perspective,” she said.
Once PEMA approves it, the application then goes to the Federal Emergency Management Agency — FEMA — for approval. It ultimately ends up back at the township for final approval at which point the supervisors can vote on whether to buy the property.
Marree said funds for the purchase would come from PEMA and FEMA, with a small remainder possibly picked up by the township.
Supervisor Mel Musulin said the township has already affirmed it is willing to buy the land but needs the go-ahead from the other agencies.If the township does acquire the land, it will be deemed a flood plain area and cannot be developed.Wright said the process has felt long, but she's glad they started when they did and not another year down the road.“We've had to rebuild this house over and over and over. Our kids are gone and it's just too much,” she said. “If I'd known about the program 20 years ago I would've applied, if only to stop other people from trying to live there.”Wright and her husband, Tony, bought the property 25 years ago. They were raising their three children and fighting the floods even then, she said.In recent years, however, Wright said the flooding has gotten much worse.“I bet if you go to my house now, it's an island,” she said Tuesday.Earlier that day in moderate rain, a large puddle already formed in the family's driveway as water began pooling alongside the house.When it's all over, Wright said the family hopes to find a new home in the township where they've lived for decades.“I want to stay in Forward Township,” Wright told the board. “I like voting for Daryl Metcalfe, I like voting for Mike Kelly and I like voting for you guys.”
