BLOOMSBURG -- Bloomsburg's one-mile-long flood wall was finished about a year ago. It protects a business, and in turn about 700 jobs. Now Bloomsburg plans to add another mile-long section along the southern edge of the Susquehanna River. This week the town received $2 million in state grant money to help.
"I think that's amazing and I think that's a plus for everyone who lives around here. It saves us," Ann Swire said.
The new section should protect more than 100 homes from flooding, including Ann Swires'.
"I think it's going to be a good thing and I hope it works," Swire said.
"Anybody it could help is a plus, really," John Martin said.
In addition to protecting all those homes, the flood wall will protect Bloomsburg Area High School and Middle School.
"The school went through quite a bit of renovations, the auditorium and everything. It would definitely help the school," Martin said.
State Senator John Gordner expects to secure another $8 million in state funding for the flood wall. Officials expect construction to start soon after.
"Some people are against the wall because they think it's going to flood other areas very bad. We'll be protected, they won't," Myrna Conner said.
"We are not going to know that until the wall is built and the next big flood comes," Conner said.
Bloomsburg Area School District and the town are responsible for coming up with about $3.5 million to help pay for the new section of the flood wall. The school district already has money set aside for its share.