Flooding

Public works to deal with flooding in the Fort Washington Office Park; the new traffic light at Camp Hill and Virginia Drive (while barring turns into or from Camp Hill reflecting neighborhood opposition and the 1952 agreement between the Seltzers and Henry Lee Willet, as president of Board of Commissioners, barring designated turns from Camp Hill Road and Highland Avenue into the Seltzer-owned property, and the one lane underpass for railroad bridge built in the 1880s for what is now called the Trenton Cutoff. See Donna Shaw, Residents Win on Camp Hill Rd., Phila. Inquirer, May 12, 1983, p. N 14 (keeping Camp Hill Rd. off-limits to the Fort Washington Office Center forfeits $750,000 PennDOT grant Funds likely to have been lost due to the delays caused by the opposition and residents’ threat to file lawsuit).

Weather-related vulnerabilities and response

Flooding

Federal Insurance Administration, U.S. Dep’t of Housing and Urban Development, Flood Insurance Study: Township of Upper Dublin, Pennsylvania, Montgomery County (July 1974), later restudy issued in 1995.

Flooding issues had arisen in and near the Ft. Washington Industrial Park from its inception, especially during. hurricanes in the 1950s and later flooding that resulted in damage to property, abandoned vehicles and loss of life.

This resulted in a proposal to construct dams to protect the Ft. Washington Industrial Park, actively supported by U.S. Rep. Coughlin and county and municipal officials, but testimony in opposition from Gino DeSimone, Ft. Washington, as president of the Upper Dublin Taxpayers Association, Inc., joined by residents George Kalen and Robert Witosky (CHECK NAME), opposing that proposal. U.S. House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Conservation and Credit of the Committee on Agriculture, 94th Congress, 2d Session, June 8, 1976, at pp. 14 et seq. (hearing on projects submitted for Soil Conservation Services). That proposal was not among the hundreds of projects funded in the legislation that became the Water Resources Act of 1976, Pub. Law 94-587, 90 Stat. 2917-2948 (Oct. 22, 1976). This opposition to the construction of dams continued. The Reporter, Feb. 12, 1977, p. 4 (George Kalen, long-time Fort Washington resident residing on Camp Hill Avenue below Mondauk Park, objected to two proposed dams in Upper Dublin).

Ultimately, the dams were constructed with state and local funding. Montgomery County Planning Commission, Abington Township, Springfield Township, Upper Dublin Township, Whitemarsh Township, Sandy Run Creek Watershed Conservation Plan (November 2001) (funded pursuant 1997 grant by Penna. Dep’t of Conservation and Natural Resources); plan later approved by Penna. Dep’t of Conservation and Natural Resources Bureau of Recreation and Conservation, 33 Pa. Bulletin 1372 (March 14, 2003).But problems have continued.

Funding dispute the only hurdle to road repairs in office park, Intelligencer (Nov. 9, 2002)

Jon Kugel, et al., Drowning Office Park Rescued by Students During High Tide, The New Planner (Temple Univ. 2005)

Office Park tests nature again, Phila. Inquirer, Nov. 11, 2006

Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Environmental Inventory of Upper Dublin: GIS-Based Environmental Inventory of Upper Dublin Township (August 2007)

Fort Washington flood study finally completed, Reporter, Sept. 8, 2008

Center for Sustainable Communities, Fort Washington Office Park Flood Study (Temple Univ., Dec. 9, 2008)

Ft. Washington Office Park to tackle flood problems, Phila. Inquirer, Aug. 5,2009

Schuylkill River Restoration Fund, Aidenn Lair Park-Upper Dublin Stormwater Basin Retrofit Summary & Funding (March 2018) (project undertaken 2009-2011)

Diane Mastrull, Parting the Waters at Fort Washington Park, Phila.Inquirer, p.C01 (Dec. 9, 2009)

Jon Starobin, FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) Releases New Upper Dublin Flood Plain Maps, PATCH (July 14, 2011) (maps to be updated in September 2012; township’s grant is being reviewed by the Commonwealth Finance Authority, seeking as much as $20 million; the plan was designed by URS (Corp., an AECOM company), with $1.2 million requested and $80,000 more being billed)

Kyle Bagenstose, {Video Update] Township Recounts Water Rescues, Flooding (Patch, Sept. 8, 2011) (at least three nearly fatal rescues took place overnight)

Thomas Celona, Upper Dublin receives $11.83 million state grant for flood control, Times Herald, Jan. 27, 2013

Flood Retarding Structures and Improvement in the Fort Washington Office Park, (Upper Dublin Twp., Sept. 7, 2015), citing Select Committee Report on Redevelopment and Investment in the Fort Washington Office Park

PAEP (Pa. Assoc. of Environmental Professionals), Tour of Upper Dublin Flood Retarding Structures and Wetland Mitigation Sites (Oct. 6, 2016)

Fort Washington Fire Company, Flooding-Tropical Storm Isaias (Aug. 4, 2020)

Upper Dublin Township, Flood Retarding Structures and Improvements in the Fort Washington Office Park, FAST FACTS, Summary and Background (“The Upper Dublin Township Commissioners voted on January 8, 2013, to award a $9.4 million construction contract to Allan A. Myers, In., Worcester, which was the lowest responsible bidder for the “dry dams.”….One structure will be built on the Pine Run behind the former Dreshertown Post Office. The second structure will be built on the Rapp Road near Camp Hill Road upstream of Highland Avenue about 1,500’ off the road.”)

Jon Campisi, $500 Grant For Stormwater Culvert Upgrade in Upper Dublin: The grant dollars will help upgrade the Bodenstein Channel culvert below Commerce Drive in the flood-prone Fort Washington Office Park,” PATCH, Sept. 23, 2022.

Aidenn Lair Park-Upper Dublin Stormwater Basin Retrofit, Schuylkill River Restoration Fund, $56,000, Total Project Cost (March 2018)

Ironically, so far as this author recalls, there has been no comparable storm visiting that section of Upper Dublin since the floodplain improvements have been constructed.

b. Hurricane Ida/Tornado

What is the likelihood that a community the size of Upper Dublin in the northeastern part of the United States and not on its coast would suffer two significant tornados within 125 years? After hard to verify, it appears that Upper Dublin is uniquely tornado prone among municipalities in northeastern United States in having been devastated by two powerful tornados. See Craig Cecce, Tornadoes in the Northeast: Not as rare as you think!, Medium, July 28, 2021 (Pennsylvania averages 15 per year, many near the I-95 corridor, but rarely as intense as those as experienced in Upper Dublin in 1896 and 2021, but among northeastern states only New York experiences tornadoes, about ten a year, and the rest of those states do not experience tornadoes); Ryan Zhao, The Unforgettable Storm: A Look Back and Analysis of Hurricane Ida, The Edition (Germantown Academy), May 25, 2022 (threat of tornadoes in the area has increased)..

Commentary, Six months after a tornado Upper Dublin shouldn’t look this bad, Phila. Inquirer (March 21, 2022)

Upper Dublin Township rebuilding year after EF-2 tornado, 6abc (Aug. 31, 2022) (noting that nearly half of 115 homes damaged are still uninhabitable)

Madeline Wright, How Temple Ambler Upper Dublin Township recovering from Hurricane Ida one year later, CBS Philadelphia (Sept. 1, 2022)

Jon Campisi, $4.5 Million to Rebuild Ida-Damaged Upper Dublin Township Building, Patch (Nov. 23, 2022)

The subsequent $52 million price tag (less grants and insurance proceeds) for reconstruction of the township offices and maintenance shed. Linda Finarelli, Construction begins on new Upper Dublin Township Building: Project necessitated by tornado, water damage totals $52.2M, but no tax hike needed, reporteronline, April 15, 2024.

Hurricane Ida & Tornado Survivors’ Support Group

The Upper Dublin Township Elder Grove (a project initiated by the Upper Dublin Historical Commission in response to the damage inflicted upon local trees to identify and preserve the oldest trees in the township) (2024)

SNOW

Like most areas in the Northeastern United States, Upper Dublin has its share of snow and ice events. The largest snowfall in modern history was over thirty inches, recorded in 1996 (The Incredible Blizzard of 1996)