Governor Josh Shapiro Directs $95 Million for Pennsylvania River Levee and Flood Warning Systems

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — Governor Josh Shapiro and Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) Director Randy Padfield announced on Monday the distribution of $95 million in state disaster resilience and flood mitigation grants to reconstruct structural levees, install automated high-capacity stormwater pumps, and deploy real-time acoustic stream gauges across thirty-two flood-vulnerable municipalities in the Susquehanna, Delaware, and Schuylkill River basins.

The project fortifies critical riverfront flood barriers protecting historic towns—including Wilkes-Barre, Kingston, Bloomsburg, Sunbury, and Yardley—that experienced historic catastrophic river flooding during severe tropical storms and winter ice-jam thaws.

Protecting 180,000 Pennsylvanians from Destructive River Flooding The Susquehanna River basin is one of the most flood-prone river corridors in the eastern United States, where heavy rain cascading off Appalachian mountainsides can cause river levels to surge twenty feet within hours, overwhelming municipal storm sewers and breaching aging earthen dikes.

"Flooding can destroy a family's home, wipe out a lifetime of savings for a small business, and tear the heart out of a community in a matter of minutes," Governor Shapiro said along the Susquehanna River levee in Wilkes-Barre. "Pennsylvanians have rebuilt time and again after historic floods, and our Commonwealth has an obligation to protect them. This $95 million investment rebuilds our aging levees, modernizes stormwater pump stations, and installs modern early-warning sensors so local emergency responders and families have the protection they deserve."

Regional Flood Infrastructure Packages Funded The $95 million allocation finances:

• Wyoming Valley Levee Fortification: $40 million for concrete floodwall reinforcement, levee crest armoring, and relief well installations in Luzerne County.
• Central Susquehanna Pump Station Upgrades: $25 million to replace 1950s-era diesel pumps with automated electric flood pumps in Columbia, Montour, and Northumberland Counties.
• 200 Real-Time Acoustic River & Tributary Gauges: $18 million to deploy satellite-linked streamflow sensors providing 30-minute flash flood warnings to county 911 centers.
• Delaware River Basin Ice-Jam Deflectors: $12 million for floating boom deflectors preventing winter ice jams from damming river channels.

County commissioners, local emergency management coordinators, and downtown merchant associations praised the governor's targeted infrastructure funding, emphasizing that certified flood levees protect residential properties and eliminate exorbitant mandatory flood insurance rates.