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Pennsylvania’s aging levees are under pressure from scarce funding and severe weather
Pennsylvania’s aging levees are under pressure from scarce funding and severe weather. Originally published by The Conversation.
By Kaleigh Yost, Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Penn State · 2026-09-10T13:35:26.919Z
The Schuylkill River in Philadelphia flooded after heavy rains from Hurricane Ida in 2021. Branden Eastwood/AFP via Getty Images Pennsylvania has over 180 levees https://levees.sec.usace.army.mil that span approximately 155 miles 255 kilometers and keep its rivers from flooding. They protect about 158,000 people and US$26.2 billion in property https://levees.sec.usace.army.mil across the state, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. However, those levees are aging, and funding to maintain and improve them is becoming scarcer. At the same time, extreme weather is becoming increasingly frequent and severe https://theconversation.com/severe storms battered pittsburgh twice as often as usual this spring a meteorologist explains why 286303 . As a geotechnical engineer https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=Lf Fd94AAAAJ&view op=list works&authuser=1&sortby=pubdate and geohazards researcher https://kaleighyost.com/ , I study how levees respond to flooding. I also help develop solutions to evaluate, manage and improve aging levee infrastructure. These solutions are more important than ever as Pennsylvania continues to see record rainfall https://www.centredaily.com/news/weather news/article317115331.html this season.
A small levee along Moshannon Creek was constructed in 1973 in Philipsburg, Pa. Kaleigh Yost, CC BY NC SA How levees work Levees are earthen embankments positioned parallel to a river that effectively raise the height of the banks of the river to prevent overflow when the river swells. Typically, levees are designed to prevent flooding from a particular size flood. Often, that’s a flood that has a 1% chance of occurring in any given year. Levees can be breached when water flows over the top during flooding. They can also fail due to erosion, water seeping through or under the embankment, and partial collapse of the embankment before floodwater reaches the top. In Pennsylvania, flooding is a frequent and damaging natural hazard https://pafloodrisk.psu.edu/home/ . The state’s 86,000 miles https://www.pa.gov/agencies/dep/programs and services/water/bureau of waterways engineering and wetlands/stream and wetland regulatory program/advice on flood prevention and management on streams/advice on flood prevention and management on streams 138,000 kilometers of rivers and streams commonly surge under heavy rains and snowmelt. Major population centers Philadelphia https://theconversation.com/us/philadelphia pennsylvania news and Pittsburgh https://theconversation.com/us/pittsburgh news both are flanked by rivers. And although Pennsylvania is not thought of as a coastal state, it can be significantly impacted by remnants of hurricanes and tropical storms. Pennsylvania’s 2023 State Hazard Mitigation Plan has recorded almost 5,000 flood events https://www.pa.gov/agencies/pema/ready communities/mitigation in the state since 1996. The National Flood Insurance Program has paid over $1 billion in claims https://www.floodsmart.gov/historical nfip claims information and trends?map=countries/us/us pa all®ion=us pa&miny=1996&maxy=2025&county=>ype=state to property owners in Pennsylvania over that same time period. Aging infrastructure and growing costs The Flood Control Act of 1936 https://www.publications.usace.army.mil/Portals/76/Publications/EngineerPamphlets/EP 870 1 29.pdf , signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as part of his New Deal agenda, was partially motivated by devastating flooding in Pennsylvania https://www.usace.army.mil/Media/Fact Sheets/Fact Sheets View/Article/4466597/183 25013 three key flood control acts of the early 20th century/ that year. The legislation allocated funding for the construction of many of Pennsylvania’s levees. As a result, most levees in Pennsylvania were constructed by the state and federal government between 1950 and 1970 https://infrastructurereportcard.org/state item/pennsylvania/ . This means the majority of Pennsylvania’s levees were designed and constructed based on engineering standards and practices from six to eight decades ago, and they have exceeded their typical design life of 50 years https://infrastructurereportcard.org/wp content/uploads/2016/10/PA Report Card 2022.pdf . After construction of the levees, the federal government transferred responsibility for management and upkeep to local community sponsors. Over 90% of Pennsylvania’s levees https://infrastructurereportcard.org/state item/pennsylvania/ are locally operated and maintained. For many rural Pennsylvania communities with aging populations https://www.rural.pa.gov/download.cfm?file=Resources/fact sheets/Rural%20Aging%20Population%20July%202023.pdf , declining tax bases and labor shortages, these costs can be a challenge. Maintaining levee embankments https://www.spa.usace.army.mil/Portals/16/docs/emergencymgmt/LeveeSponsor Maintenance Guide.pdf isn’t cheap. It requires managing vegetation, controlling erosion, removing debris and repairing animal burrows. Other features of levees, like floodwalls, pump stations and pipes, also require periodic maintenance and upgrades. In other words, construction of a levee is not a one time investment. It is an ongoing commitment that can be expensive as older levees require more repairs and upgrades, and inflation drives up costs.
The author’s research team collects data at a levee in Forty Fort, Pa. CC BY NC SA Levees not built for today’s flood risks Flood risk is understood as a combination of hazard, exposure and vulnerability. All three change over time. Evolving weather patterns are resulting in more severe flood hazards. As areas protected by levees become more developed, more people and infrastructure are exposed to the hazard. Aging infrastructure increases their vulnerability. Heavy rainfall across Pennsylvania is increasing. From 1958 to 2021, the amount of rainfall during the top 1% heaviest storms in the Northeast U.S. increased by 60% https://www.climatecentral.org/climate matters/extreme precipitation in a warming climate?utm medium=email&utm campaign=CM+Extreme+Precipitation+in+a+Warming+Climate+2024+EN&utm content=CM+Extreme+Precipitation+in+a+Warming+Climate+2024+EN+CID 0acb8c6287 , according to the Fifth National Climate Assessment https://toolkit.climate.gov/sites/default/files/2025 07/NCA5 2023 FullReport.pdf , published by the U.S. Global Change Research Program. The Federal Emergency Management Agency https://www.fema.gov/ continually updates U.S. floodplain maps to better reflect current risk. These updates can trigger a review of a levee system’s performance. If a community cannot show that its levee meets the minimum design, operations and maintenance requirements outlined in the Code of Federal Regulations https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title 44/chapter I/subchapter B/part 65?toc=1 , areas behind the levee will be considered unprotected against the 1% annual chance flood. This will result in higher flood insurance premiums https://www.doi.org/10.1088/1748 9326/ae2495 and development restrictions for homeowners and businesses located behind the “unaccredited” levee. Currently, only around 15% https://levees.sec.usace.army.mil of Pennsylvania’s levees are accredited https://www.pa.gov/agencies/dep/programs and services/water/bureau of waterways engineering and wetlands/flood protection/levee safety by FEMA. As FEMA proceeds with floodplain mapping updates in Pennsylvania, the need to pursue accreditation is becoming more pressing for many communities. But the accreditation process can be time consuming and expensive. Levee sponsors are responsible for hiring a professional engineer to conduct the analyses needed to certify that the levee meets the minimum requirements. If the engineer identifies upgrades needed to meet minimum protection levels, like raising the levee height, the levee sponsors must find funding to make those upgrades.
The levee in Duryea, Pa., which sits on the banks of the Lackawanna River, was built in the 1970s. The local flood protection authority wants to raise it about 3 feet to protect the small rural town from flooding. Jason Ardan/The Citizens' Voice via Getty Images Scattered funding for levee repairs and upgrades Financial support for levees is lacking nationally https://infrastructurereportcard.org/cat item/levees infrastructure/ . Although Congress reauthorized https://www.asce.org/publications and news/civil engineering source/civil engineering magazine/article/2023/01/wrda 2022 act revises levee safety inland waterway programs the National Levee Safety Program https://www.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil Works/Levee Safety Program/ until 2028, appropriations have not been made to fully fund it. No single stream of funding supports levee maintenance and upgrades. Small communities often have to piece together funding from multiple sources in order to complete a needed project. Communities draw from local taxes or other fees to support their modest flood control budgets and supplement grant funding. Taxes or fees specifically to support levee operations, maintenance or upgrades are uncommon, though one notable exception is the levee fee https://lcfpa.org/levee fee/ collected by the Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority in northeastern Pennsylvania. This fee generates revenue used for maintenance and operations of the 16 mile long 28 kilometer levee system https://levees.sec.usace.army.mil/ along the Susquehanna River that protects around 18,000 buildings and over 62,000 people. Despite the fee, the Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority still has to seek grant funding https://www.citizensvoice.com/2026/02/18/flood authority gets extension for projects spending covid 19 funds from luzerne county/ to support large projects. Some state funding for levee repairs and upgrades is available through the Pennsylvania capital budget https://www.houseappropriations.com/Topic/Other/153 , but these funds are limited and subject to bureaucratic delays. Some communities obtain grants up to $500,000 from the state’s Department of Community & Economic Development Flood Mitigation Program https://dced.pa.gov/programs/flood mitigation program fmp/ . The program requires the participating community to match 15% of the total project costs. The Pennsylvania Local Share Account https://dced.pa.gov/programs/local share account lsa statewide/ can also support some levee projects of limited scope. Starting in 2020, FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities https://www.fema.gov/grants/mitigation/learn/building resilient infrastructure communities , or BRIC, program provided an avenue for federal funding for hazard mitigation projects, including levee upgrades. But FEMA announced the elimination of the BRIC program in April 2025 and canceled around $182.5 million https://www.npr.org/2025/05/01/nx s1 5359452/trump disaster funding cuts fema bric in grants already awarded to Pennsylvania. At least two of those grants were supporting Pennsylvania levee projects: the rehabilitation of the Duryea levee https://fox56.com/news/local/duryea awaits bric funding as fema returns amid dhs shutdown in Luzerne County, and construction plans for a new levee in nearby Exeter https://www.wnep.com/article/news/local/luzerne county/fema funding cut leaves luzerne county homes more vulnerable to flooding bric protection program/523 279b1573 7188 48a0 af8e dedc7202748b . Pennsylvania was one of over 20 states that sued the federal government https://www.floods.org/news views/fema news/fema ordered to restart bric program/ in response to the termination of the BRIC funding. The program was reinstated https://www.congress.gov/crs product/IN12609 in March 2026 after a judge ruled the termination unlawful https://www.floods.org/news views/fema news/fema ordered to restart bric program/ . However, it is unclear how and when funds will be distributed, and whether those funds will cover planned project costs https://www.naco.org/news/counties regroup after femas resiliency grant program resumes . Future outlook The bottom line is that levees built in the mid 1900s will not continue to provide the same level of flood protection forever. Communities across Pennsylvania will need innovative solutions to promote flood resilience despite limited financial capacity as their levees continue to age, severe weather worsens and funding remains uncertain. My colleagues at Penn State and I are working to develop and deploy new technologies to investigate levee conditions https://doi.org/10.17603/ds2 dh71 0s11 , improve engineering analyses https://doi.org/10.1038/s44304 024 00002 1 and establish community centered approaches https://www.psu.edu/our impact/flooding prevention levees to address this challenging issue. Geophysical technologies https://doi org.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/10.1016/j.enggeo.2019.105206 allow you to “see” inside a levee without disturbing the embankment and can be less expensive than traditional methods of levee investigation. These methods use seismic, electrical or magnetic waves to characterize soil layers and their properties. Drones can support collection of highly detailed imagery, topography and even information about internal erosion https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2024.104982 . Advances in these technologies will enable more rapid and robust assessments of levee conditions. Local leaders understand their community’s unique challenges when it comes to flood resilience – but they need technical support and financial resources to implement solutions. Read more of our stories about Philadelphia and Pennsylvania https://theconversation.com/us/philadelphia pennsylvania news , or sign up for our Philadelphia newsletter on Substack https://tcphilly.substack.com/ .
Kaleigh Yost receives funding from the National Science Foundation. Kaleigh Yost is contributing to the American Society of Civil Engineers Pennsylvania Infrastructure Report Card 2026 update.