Senator Bob Casey and Williamsport Mayor Derek Slaughter walk along the levee at the Hepburn Street Pump Station after the senator annouced the $8,000,000 in congressional funding to help with improving flood protection for the city. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

In yet another watershed moment for the continuing effort to certify and accredit the Greater Williamsport Levee, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, brought official news of an $8 million Congressionally directed earmark for the second largest levee system in the Baltimore District of the Army Corps of Engineers.

“This is a big, big, big number,” Casey said of the congressional direct spending earmark, adding the cost was worth it for “peace of mind.”

Standing inside the largest of the levee pump stations on Hepburn Street, Casey was joined by members of the Army Corps, City of Williamsport Mayor Derek Slaughter and Lycoming County officials for a brief tour of the levee.

“No question when you have a flood-prone area like Williamsport and the Northeastern part of our state, we have huge concerns that people in our area have in paying higher flood insurance rates,” Casey said.

Joining the team for the tour were members of the county contingent to include but not limited to Shannon Rossman, county planning director, former county Commissioner Tony Mussare, city engineer Bill Scott, the public works department from the city, various members of the press and the senator’s aides.

One of the purposes of recertifying the levee — completed in 1955 with upgrades made after Tropical Storm Agnes in 1972 — is to

prevent folks protected by it from having to pay annual flood insurance rates that one Realtor said were $5,000 per residential property or higher.

“Those rates go higher and higher when you have the threat of flooding,” Casey said.

The levee is one of the primary means of preventing the threat of flooding $4 billion to $5 billion of assets in the city, South Williamsport, Old Lycoming Township and Loyalsock Township, Casey and others stressed.

Repairing the levee will “make sure that people have that peace of mind that families should have a right to expect and businesses should have a right to expect,” he said.

“The good news is this investment came from the people,” Casey said.

Officials approached the senator in D.C. and asked him to prioritize tax dollars for flood protection, he added.

The project, which has been in the works since about 2012, has included assistance from various federal and state administrations, former U.S. Rep. Fred Keller and former U.S. Senator Patrick Toomey, and countless individuals in local, state and federal agencies.

“They have to prepare an awful lot of backup and justification for that investment,” Casey said.

A determination is then made — which in this case occurred through the Senate Appropriations Committee, he said. Once the assessment is done and determination is made for or against funding, the project funding is able to be announced.

As for the protection of $5 billion in land and property assets, whenever a major flood event occurs, it doesn’t only affect residents who live in the community — it also can be devastating to the business community, Casey said.

Should businesses be flooded, that means no customers and that means they are unable to sell products, so this investment has a direct impact on the business community, job creation and economic development, Casey observed.

“I’m not sure you can put a price tag on that,” he said.