Plymouth Council Approves $24,000 for Launfall Flooding

Residents of the Launfall Road area in Plymouth Meeting who have been communicating with the Township Council for over a month about flooding issues in their neighborhood got good news Monday Night.

The council approved a $24,000 engineering project to investigate the drainage area around Launfall Road, including interviews with residents about issues and improvement options. Council chair Vince Gillen said that the project would attempt to solve flooding problems, saying there was “a serious problem.”

“If there is heavy rain there, our residents are getting flooded out every time,” he said. “That area is fed by runoff from a couple of sources. It really [is] one of the lowest points [in the township].

Residents at Launfall Road appeared before the township in September complaining of basement and lawn flooding.

“We’re talking about a foot of water in the street at Launfall,” resident Tara Eison said in September. “All the water is building up. In the last three years we’ve been flooding almost every year from every bad rain. I mean, maybe about four inches on our floors every time it rains bad.”

Township engineer Russ Benner said the issue was due to multiple drainage sources dumping into one area, making it prone for flash flooding even without extreme conditions.

“It is a flash flood issue,” he said. Heavy rain isn’t as big a problem but when the rain comes all it once it overloads the system and causes the flooding.”