Durham Township residents whose homes were ravaged by Tropical Storm Ida continue to face massive cleanup operations and the township itself expects a hefty road repair bill.
Residents who normally bask in the natural beauty of Red Bridge Road, which lies along meandering Cooks Creek witnessed nature’s ferocity Sept. 1 as a flash flood unleashed by Ida swept through, damaging houses, a machine shop and out-buildings, tearing through lawns and ripping up fences and portions of the road.
Flood waters from Cooks Creek also surged into the Village of Durham along Durham Road and Old Furnace roads, flooding homes and dumping mud over the first floor of the tiny U.S. Post Office situated in the Durham Grist Mill.
The replica Durham boat housed in a pavilion on the adjacent Village Green had to be tied to a tree to ensure its safety, according to Roadmaster Peter Cox.
Cooks Creek flood waters raged, under and over Durham Road and along Rattlesnake Road, cutting wide swaths that wiped out wide stretches of cornfields and tossed debris and rocks into the creek bed.
Cox met with officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Sept. 15 and toured the affected properties.
Danielle Cox, township administrator-secretary, said the supervisors met to approve a disaster declaration Sept. 2 and President Joseph R. Biden granted a major disaster declaration Sept. 10, triggering a release of federal funds. She said 17 township homes were damaged and three were uninhabitable.
She also provided the following list of road damage and estimated repair costs: (Durham Road and Route 212 are state roads so the state is responsible for those repairs. Red Bridge and Old Furnace roads are township-owned.)
A 250-foot section of Red Bridge Road was washed away. The road, lined with dumpsters, is temporarily closed but accessible to fire and emergency vehicles. Cost: $38,000.
On Durham Road, a portion of the road edge was washed out and the guide rail compromised. Cost $20,000.
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