State cites property owners in connection with flooding

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The irony isn’t lost on Gary Andreis.

In the more than 11 years he ran McDonald Auto Service, he had no significant flooding at the business until the Pennsylvania Turnpike began construction last year of a section of the Southern Beltway about a quarter-mile from his property.

After the area along Route 980 flooded nine times in the last 18 months, Mr. Andreis closed his business and has hired an attorney. Now, the state Department of Environmental Resources has cited him and a neighboring property owner for not properly caring for an old culvert installed by previous owners that the agency says is contributing to flooding.

The state agency last week sent

notices to Mr. Andreis and a rental property owner, Michael S. Kramer Jr., giving them until Aug. 6 to clear obstructions from the culvert. Although the culvert is more than a quarter-mile long, the DEP cited only those property owners who have a clog in the portion on their property.

“We didn’t have this problem until the turnpike started working over there,” Mr. Andreis said earlier this week.

The turnpike is building an $800 million, 13-mile section of the Southern Beltway between Route 22 and Interstate 79 on the border between Allegheny and Washington counties.

Mr. Andreis and others along Route 980 in Cecil and McDonald acknowledge the culvert was installed long ago without proper permits and has pipes of various sizes joined together to capture water behind their properties on one side of the road. Occasionally, heavy rain would clog or overwhelm the makeshift culvert and cause minor flooding at the rear of their properties.

But after turnpike contractor Joseph B. Fay Co. began excavating a hillside on the opposite side of Route 980, the fronts of businesses and residences have been covered with water and mud regularly since early last year, Mr. Andreis and others say. The water and mud have cascaded down the hillside and roadway before flooding their properties from the front, they say, causing the worst flooding since the remnants of Hurricane Ivan hit the area in 2004.

Turnpike engineers have made a series of modifications to address flooding, including last month moving up construction of a permanent retention pond near construction of a bridge across Route 980 to mitigate the problem. Officials also are expected to make offers to buy some of the properties that have been flooded regularly so additional runoff measures can be added to the project.

C.J. Engel, an attorney representing Mr. Andreis, said his client is anxious to address the problem and has pipe stacked on his property while he’s waiting for DEP approval to install itto help channel runoff.

“I don’t even know for sure if legally this is his problem,” Mr. Engel said, “but nobody wants this taken care of more than Gary. He’s been ready, willing and able to put this new system in, but he’s waiting for approvals.”

Mr. Engel said he’s also preparing a lawsuit seeking damagesfor Mr. Andreis.