LYCOMING COUNTY, Pa. — In 1996, Lycoming Creek along Route 87 flooded after a major snowstorm hit central Pennsylvania. This week marks the 25th anniversary of the disaster that killed six people in Lycoming County.
"According to the older hazard mitigation plan, there were 88 hospitalizations and over 200 injuries from the '96 flood, and obviously, millions of dollars in property damage," said John Lavelle, deputy director of the Lycoming County Planning Department.
Since then, the county continuously plans for disaster situations like 1996. Lavelle helps work on hazard mitigations.
"There is planning, obviously. It kind of guides our efforts. After '96, we were one of the first in the country to kind of put all this hazard mitigation emphasis into a book," said Lavelle.
Lavelle was working in the county when a tropical storm in 2011 caused flooding in the area. After that, the county used grants to buy up property near creeks to reduce damage and potentially save lives.
"After Tropical Storm Lee, I think we had about 30 properties acquired through that," said Lavelle.
The county has also installed a flood warning system. The system warns people in the county when creeks and rivers get dangerously high.
"We wanted to install what is known as the flood warning system, and that consists of 21 automatic stream gauges that you can actually access online," said Lavelle.
You can check out more details about Lycoming County's flood plans here.