Study Predicts Long-Term Damaging Flood Prospects For NH

ROSS AND WEST VIEW, PA — A major flooding risk will plague Ross and West View over the next three decades, a new study has concluded.

There are 1,235 properties in the 15237 zip code that have greater than a 26 percent chance of being severely affected by flooding over a the next 30 years, according to the First Street Foundation report. That represents 7 percent of all properties in the zip code.

In the 15229 zip code, there are 249 properties that have greater than a 26 percent chance, about 4 percent of all properties.

The First Street Foundation report calculates the risk of flooding on residential properties,
commercial properties, roads, critical infrastructure such as utilities and emergency services and social infrastructure such as schools and government. Those findings have been aggregated for every state, county, city and zip code in the country.

The New York based foundation, a research and technology group working to define America's growing climate risk, released the report, "3rd National Risk Assessment: Infrastructure on the Brink," on Monday.

The study comes as parts of Pennsylvania continue to recover from the destruction caused last month from the flooding and tornadoes triggered by the remnants of Hurricane Ida.

Under the study's criteria, "severely affected" refers to water, at a minimum, at the edge of a building. For residential properties, if water did not make it over the threshold, it may still do extensive damage to a low lying garage, basement, crawl space, yard or parked car.

For commercial properties and government buildings, severely affected indicates workers, customers and others may not be able to safely access the building during a flood.

For the 15237 zip code, flood risks are as follows through 2051, according to the study:

• Overall flood risk: Major

• Residential: Minor

• Road: Major

• Commercial: Severe

• Infrastructure: Major

For the 15229 zip code, here are the risks:

• Overall: Moderate

• Residential: Minor

• Road: Moderate

• Commercial: Severe

• Infrastructure: Moderate

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