Flood-prone Philadelphia neighborhood will get $2.12 million in federal climate funds

Philadelphia will receive more than $2 million in federal funding to combat flooding in one of its most flood-prone neighborhoods, according to an announcement Tuesday from President Joe Biden’s administration.

Eastwick, located in the city’s southwestern corner, frequently experiences storm-related flooding from the nearby confluence of Cobbs and Darby Creeks.

Flood waters have damaged Eastwick homes, businesses, and infrastructure over the years, leaving local officials and neighborhood groups scrambling for solutions through proposals of structural engineering or community relocation.

Those projects, however, carry price tags in the millions, and the funding is expected to advance flood-mitigation efforts in the neighborhood.

Philadelphia will receive $2.12 million for flood mitigation in Eastwick, according to the city’s Office of Sustainability.

The Biden administration, in collaboration with the Department of Human Services and Federal Emergency Management Agency, will allot $1 billion in funds to a host of American communities to fund climate resiliency projects, according to a statement. Nearly $400 million of the total comes from Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The Eastwick project will “boost resilience by mitigating flood risks,” according to the statement. The announcement came with no additional specifics.

The Office of Sustainability will need to “combine several funding sources” to erect near-term flood barriers in Eastwick, a spokesperson said Tuesday.

In addition to the tranche of FEMA funds, the Eastwick project will also be buoyed by $1.3 million earmarked in a recent government funding package. The office will also search for a “local match,” according to the spokesperson.

“The Parker Administration welcomes the federal government’s continued support to augment the work that the City is doing to ameliorate these long-standing issues in Eastwick,” the spokesperson said.

More than 600 projects across the country are set to receive funding, according to FEMA.

The money will help state and local governments “address current and future risks from natural disasters including extreme heat, wildfires, drought, hurricanes, earthquakes and increased flooding,” FEMA said.

The search for a solution to Eastwick flooding woes has been brewing for decades.

Last fall, the Army Corps of Engineers proposed building a 1,400-foot-long levee along Cobbs Creek.

At an estimated cost of $13 million, the project would mainly address flooding in the areas between 78th and 82nd Streets, from Cobbs Creek to Chelwynde Avenue. It was Eastwick’s first proposal for a levee; a retaining wall, built in recent years, already blocks flooding from Lower Darby Creek.

The Army Corps proposed paying for over 60% of the project, though it would need additional sources of funding.

That proposal appears to differ from the near-term flood project cited in the FEMA funding announcement.

A spokesperson for the Army Corps deferred comment on the levee project to the Office of Sustainability.