Stilts for homes in Tammany Flats?

By TOM KANE

DAMASCUS, PA — Homes that want to remain in the Delaware River flood plain may have to be built on higher elevations that put them above the recent flood line.

The Damascus Township Board of Supervisors discussed this option at its meeting on July 17. The discussion centered on Tammany Flats along the banks of the Delaware River, which was swamped by floodwaters for the third time in 18 months.

“I’m tired of going down there and rebuilding some of those homes three times in the last year and a half,” said contractor Chip Williams. “There should be a higher standard for construction of homes down there than what exists now.”

Making the building higher may demand that they be built on stilts, Williams said. “They’re doing that in several parts of the country,” he said.

“We need to be concerned for the safety of people who live down there and refuse to vacate,” said chairman Bill Gager. Gager related how one of the residents of Tammany Flats had to be rescued by a large number of emergency workers.

“He wanted to get back to his family who were still in the home and refused to vacate it,” Gager said. If homes were built at a higher elevation, the floods would not create these emergency situations, he said.

In the township, 38 homes were damaged and four were considered unsafe for habitation and had to be rebuilt, according to Ed Lagarenne, township zoning officer. Most of the 38 homes were in Tammany Flats and the four destroyed homes were located there, he said.

FEMA does not enforce demanding higher elevations for construction, said Lagarenne. “What they do is to set the insurance rates higher for all homes in the area if the township does nothing. So, it pays for the township to adopt such elevations in order to avoid higher insurance rates.”