Long-afflicted by flooding, Washington County community gets cleanup help from the state

HOUSTON, Pa. — Flooding in Houston Borough, Washington County, has always been an issue for residents.

Borough officials say they’ve been fighting for change for years and couldn’t get anywhere. Now, with the help of their state representative, they’re starting to see some action.

“In the 60 years I’ve lived here — 60 plus — I’ve never seen any work being done to help with the flooding issue. This is the first time,” said lifelong Houston resident Jonathan Taylor.

Lifelong residents in Houston Borough say flooding has always been an issue, especially along State Route 519.

Last April, the borough suffered severe damage due to flooding. Channel 11 was there last year, covering the aftermath of the flooding at a local park.

“We’re kind of like the bathtub where the drain is,” said Houston Borough Council Vice President Nick Galbraith. “And that’s geography. There’s not a whole lot we can do about it. “

Up until a few days ago, the creek that runs underneath 519 still had debris in it from last year’s flood.

“It was all overgrowth, there was siltage and junk. They said they found four tires right down here,” Galbraith said. “They’ve cleared this out all the way through, under the bridge to the other side. They say they go 50 feet in each direction.”

The “they” he’s speaking of is PennDOT.

“It’s a big deal for us,” said Houston Borough Council President Larry Scears. “That’s a lot — they moved a lot of dirt at the bottleneck there.”

Scears says PennDOT crews were brought in to help clear the mess after getting in touch with their state representative, Jason Ortitay.

Scears says he’s hopeful the momentum will spread to other flood mitigation efforts, to help protect the borough’s 1,200 residents.

Houston officials say that, after this current project wraps up at the beginning of next week, they’re going to focus on removing two abandoned railroad bridges that also cause issues when it floods.

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