flooding

Local officials and developers say new affordable apartments are breathing life into one Broome County neighborhood.

While the county can use FEMA public assistance to repair schools and other publicly-funded institutions, its residential neighbors are not eligible.

“These aren’t small repairs. A furnace is anywhere from $2,000 to $4,000.”

“It’s like a race against Mother Nature."

“What’s happening in the watershed in terms of land use and these precipitation patterns means that these boundaries shift.”

This week marks ten years since flood waters from Tropical Storm Lee left residents in Owego displaced, without electricy, and scrambling to save their homes. WSKG is sharing some of their stories.

"Our soils aren’t that deep and are full of rocks and clay - if you try to dig around here, it's pretty difficult. So our soils saturate rapidly.”

“Not fixing something that you know needs to be fixed now, because the money just doesn’t allow for it at this moment."

“That doesn’t exist. We don’t have a lot of affordable housing anywhere in Delaware County.”

“We’re very limited on additional housing solutions in that region, so I’m not sure what the permanent solutions are going to be at this point."