Irene, Lee Caused $13 Million in Damages to Whitemarsh

estimate that township homes and businesses sustained nearly $14 million in damages as a result of the heavy flooding caused by and

At the Whitemarsh Board of Supervisors meeting on Thursday, emergency management coordinator Scott Lynch said that township officials surveyed damages at 39 homes and businesses after Irene, putting the price tag at over $1.3 million.

The damages from Lee were worse, with 57 homes and businesses sustaining nearly $13 million in combined damages.

Lynch said that the increases in damages sustained during the second storm were caused by flash flooding conditions caused by heavy rainfall in an already saturated area.

“Most of the properties we assessed for Lee were the same ones we assessed for Irene,” he said.

Police Chief Mike Beatty said that, due to advanced warning of Hurricane Lee, the township’s emergency services had more time to prepare for the seven inches of water the township received over a 12 hour period. Lee, on the other hand, presented issues due to its strength and speed.

“The substantial amount of rain in such a short time caused sever flash flooding throughout the township,” he said. “The flooding was so bad that even police and public works hard a hard time traveling through some roadways.”

The flooding caused closures on Interstate 76 and Route 309, as well as downed trees on Germantown Pike near Chestnut Hill College, making passage to and from Philadelphia a major issue for Whitemarsh, Beatty said.

with only on major road to get to and from the city,” he said.”

received nearly 100 calls during the two storms and submitted roughly 162 man-hours during Irene.

“I want to thank all our employees and especially the volunteers who leave their homes to come out and assist the community in times of need,” Beaty said. “Their services are immeasurable. The list of heroic actions by personnel that assisted township residents is too vast to attempt to single out.”

The Board of Supervisors said that it would work with township engineering to attempt to develop a system to ease the damage caused by these types of storms in the future.

“The effects [of the storms] on this township were just devastation from one side of town to the other,” board chairman Robert Hart said. “In these horrific storms there are deadly consequences.”