FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Help from Washington is coming to a community in our area devastated by flooding last summer. Millions of dollars in federal money is coming to Susquehanna County for road and bridge repairs.
Some roads and bridges in Franklin Township were washed away by flooding in mid-August of last year. Now, $2.4 million in federal funding is going to reimburse the township and PennDOT for repairs.
Last summer, raging floodwaters tore through parts of Susquehanna County. A section of Booth Road in Franklin Township has ripped apart.
"When it was flooding, we tried to come home, and you couldn't get here. I couldn't get here because the roads were flooded, underwater," Brian DeGraw said.
In the months since, PennDOT and Franklin Township have repaired many of the roads and bridges that were destroyed by the flooding.
Now, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, better known as FEMA, is reimbursing them for 75% of the costs to rebuild what flash flooding washed away.
More than $1.1 million in federal funds was given to Franklin Township for road repair work after this historic flooding. More than $1.3 million was given to PennDOT for bridge repair work.
"There's many, many areas behind Salt Springs, and in front of Salt Springs, the roads were so bad you could barely pass and drive on them after the flood, but now you can drive on them," Denise DeGraw said.
Krista Naylor lives along Silver Creek Road, where some of the worst floodings happened.
"As we all know, roads in Pennsylvania are not great. The road in front of our home right here was damaged quite badly after the flood, and that took about three months to get repaired," Naylor said.
This money from FEMA comes as more roads in Franklin Township are still in need of repair. Township supervisors said that new roadwork should begin in the spring.