Southwest Philadelphia's Eastwick neighborhood will get temporary flood barriers built to protect the low-lying community from water damage that has threatened residents for decades, city officials said Tuesday.
Philadelphia's Office of Sustainability has received a $1.38 million federal grant to construct the interim structures. The community is in the watersheds of Cobbs and Darby creeks and the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers, making properties susceptible to flooding during heavy rain.
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The city anticipates the region's changing climate will cause more frequent flooding events that require a long-term mitigation strategy.
“The Eastwick Near-term Flood Barrier Project will protect vulnerable residents and properties from damaging floods," Elizabeth Lankenau, interim director of the Office of Sustainability, said in a news release. "This represents an important step forward in tackling a complex flooding problem and building a more resilient Eastwick.”
The structures — known as HESCO barriers — are made using wire frame lined with fabric mesh in sizes ranging from 2 to 7 feet tall. They have been used in flood protection projects nationwide, including in New York City's Financial District and Two Bridges neighborhoods along the East River. They're also sometimes used for military fortification.
The design phase for the project in Eastwick is expected to begin next spring. City officials did not immediately provide details about the specific locations it will install the barriers. Plans call for constructing shorter barriers to enable faster implementation.
The project is viewed as an interim solution in Eastwick as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continues its feasibility study for the construction of a 15-foot-tall levee along a flood-prone section of Cobbs Creek. That proposal calls for a structure that would run about a quarter-mile from Eastwick Regional Park — which sits along Cobbs Creek between 78th and 80th streets — to the Clearview Landfill that separates Philadelphia from Delaware County in the suburban municipality of Darby.
In Eastwick, Darby Creek runs to the west, the Schuylkill River and Mingo Creek are to the east and Tinicum Marsh is to the south.
Some of Eastwick's worst flooding happened in 1999 during Hurricane Floyd, with especially vulnerable areas between 78th and 82nd streets and from the creek to Chelwynde Avenue. Eastwick also was hit hard by Tropical Storm Isaias in 2020, which caused flooding in other vulnerable areas of the city including Manayunk. The Federal Emergency Management Agency denied disaster relief funds to the city's low-lying areas because that storm was not deemed to be of great enough severity.
Although Eastwick sits in marshland within a federally designated floodplain, FEMA only made the neighborhood a Community Disaster Resilience Zone last year. The designation opens up more funding opportunities for climate resiliency projects like the proposed levee, which the Army Corps selected as the best alternative to other options like building a flood wall, elevating homes or relocating people.
The Army Corps, which works with cities to assess areas susceptible to flooding, projects the levee project in Eastwick and Darby would cost about $13 million. About 65% of the cost would be covered by the federal government and the rest would come from the city and other sources. The levee also would cost about $67,000 to maintain each year.
The Army Corps projects the levee would save $4 million annually between 2030 and 2080 by preventing damage to homes and infrastructure. The project is still preliminary and requires additional engineering studies to determine how the levee would impact the creek at other locations. The plan is expected to raise water levels in parts of Cobbs and Darby creeks, which could require additional flood mitigation measures.
If the levee project is approved, Rochette said construction could begin by the end of the decade. The closest residences to the proposed levee would be rowhouses along Saturn Place near Eastwick Regional Park.
Climate change models predict a wetter, hotter future in Philadelphia that will increase existing flood risks. The Center for Climate Integrity, an environmental advocacy group, estimates that Pennsylvania communities will need to pay $15 billion by 2040 to protect residents from the impacts of climate change. The group's projected cost in Philadelphia is $3.3 billion by 2040, or about $190 million per year.