Progress Made On Construction of Duryea Flood Control Project In Luzerne County

Staff from the Department of Environmental Protection’s  Northeast Regional Office recently got a look at the progress of work to build a levee system in the borough of Duryea, Luzerne County.

Fred Perry and Jonathan Conville of Dam Safety Program, who designed the sheet-pile wall, took NERO Director Mike Bedrin, Waterways and Wetlands Program Manager Joe Buczynski and Community Relations Coordinator Colleen Connolly on a tour of the project along the Lackawanna River. Several Duryea Council members also toured the site.  

Approximately 550 feet of wall has been driven into the ground as part of the $1.5 million dollar project.  

In 2011, heavy rains forced the nearby Susquehanna River to overtop the Lackawanna River, causing both to push through a gap in the existing levee system and flood the tiny borough.  Several homes and business were lost in the flooding.  

Another 550 feet of wall still needs to be installed, with work projected to be complete by mid–to-late June.

For more information on this program, visit DEP’s Flood Protection webpage.
(Reprinted from the April 28 DEP News.  Click Here to sign up for your own copy.)

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