Republican U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan contradicted the Trump administration’s contention that a certain Federal Emergency Management Agency funding program is wasteful and advocated for restoration of $2.5 million for flood buyouts in Scranton.
On April 4, FEMA announced its ending of the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program and canceling of all applications from fiscal years 2020-2023. Calling the program “wasteful and ineffective,” FEMA said in a press release posted online that BRIC funds not yet distributed will be immediately returned either to the Disaster Relief Fund or the U.S. Treasury.
On Tuesday, Scranton Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti issued a letter to Bresnahan, whose district includes Scranton, as well as to Republican U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick and Democratic U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, to advocate in Congress for reinstating and preserving BRIC or an equivalent funding source.
Ending BRIC “will have a direct and detrimental impact on our city’s ability to mitigate flood risks, modernize infrastructure, and protect residents in vulnerable neighborhoods,” Cognetti said in her letter to the legislators. The city had been working on BRIC-funded buyouts of 18 homes rendered uninhabitable in flash flooding of Sept. 9, 2023, and three vacant lots also deluged. Those properties are on North Merrifield Avenue and Leggett, Mary and Jackson streets. The city intended to pay for the $3.4 million total buyout cost using $2.5 million of BRIC grant funding and $849,000 of city funds, as the city’s portion was a 25% contribution.
On Wednesday, Bresnahan, of Dallas Twp., sent a letter to FEMA expressing his opposition to the canceling of BRIC, noting the program began in 2018 during President Donald Trump’s first term. Bresnahan noted FEMA’s website described BRIC as a shift away from reactive spending of federal dollars on disasters to proactive investments. Ending BRIC now leaves Scranton “holding the bag” to come up with $2.5 million to complete the buyouts, according to Bresnahan’s letter, which cites in a footnote a Times-Tribune article reporting on Cognetti’s letter.
“I am writing to express my opposition to FEMA’s recent announcement it would cancel the [BRIC] program … this decision is detrimental to my constituents, and I strongly urge you to reverse this decision,” Bresnahan’s letter said. “This program is a hand-up, not a hand-out, to at-risk communities who have suffered catastrophic weather events. This includes my district and Northeastern Pennsylvania.”
The 8th Congressional District includes all of Lackawanna, Wayne and Pike and parts of Luzerne and Monroe counties.
Bresnahan’s letter continued: “Without the support from the BRIC program, the city will be forced to come up with an additional $2.5 million in funding in order to create floodplain restoration and infrastructure, which is important to city public safety and future cost savings. … In cases where communities cannot bear the full cost of property purchases, programs like BRIC are not wasteful, but well within the purview of federal coordination of disaster relief efforts.”
FEMA’s announcement said ending BRIC will help ensure that grant funding aligns with Trump’s executive orders and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s direction “and best support states and local communities in disaster planning, response and recovery.”
Last summer, the city’s BRIC application for the 21 buyouts passed a key step when FEMA deemed it eligible for funding. The city has since been working on the buyout plan, which calls for acquiring and demolishing the 18 houses that became uninhabitable from the flooding and three vacant adjoining lots. The houses include nine on North Merrifield Avenue and one on Jackson Street, all in the Keyser Valley area; and six on Leggett Street and two on Mary Street, all in North Scranton.
The city previously sought similar FEMA funding in 2021 to buy some flood-prone homes on North Merrifield Avenue but was unsuccessful.
On Sept. 9, 2023, a deluge that dropped 6 inches of localized rain in a few hours overwhelmed creeks, roads, motorists and homeowners. The storm claimed the lives of a couple who got trapped in their car in the tunnel on Shady Lane Road in South Abington Twp. by rushing runoff from Summit Lake Creek. Storm damage in the area ranged from washed-out, undermined roads in the Notch and North Scranton to flooding of homes in the Keyser Valley.
Scranton firefighters from Rescue 1 arrive in a boat Saturday at Jackson Street and South Merrifield Avenue with a woman rescued from a flooded home on Sept. 9, 2023. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)
CHRISTOPHER DOLAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERScranton firefighters from Rescue 1 arrive in a boat at Jackson Street and South Merrifield Avenue in West Scranton with a woman rescued from a flooded home on Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023.
A pickup truck flipped onto its roof by flood waters on Sept. 9, 2023 on Leggett Street in Scranton. Photo taken Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)
In July, FEMA announced $1 billion in funding for 656 total projects nationwide for the 2023 BRIC program of grants to help communities better prepare for natural disasters.
The city also had another BRIC grant of $75,000 in the works that would have allowed the city to hire a consultant to update building codes related to flooding and other hazardous events and train staff members on those updates.
A home impacted by flooding at 120 N. Merrifield Avenue in Scranton. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
A home impacted by flooding at 207 N. Merrifield Avenue in Scranton. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
A home impacted by flooding at 120 N. Merrifield Avenue in Scranton. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
A homes impacted by flooding at 209 N. Merrifield Avenue in Scranton. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
A homes impacted by flooding at 121 N. Merrifield Avenue in Scranton. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
Homes impacted by flooding at 120 and 122 N. Merrifield Avenue in Scranton. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
A home impacted by flooding at 122 N. Merrifield Avenue in Scranton. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
Homes impacted by flooding at 120 and 122 N. Merrifield Avenue in Scranton. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)