Need for flood-recovery assistance drops in Pa.
The demand for flood recovery assistance in Pennsylvania has ebbed enough that some state agency offices are now closing on weekends.
The state Department of Environmental Protection had planned to keep its Harrisburg and Williamsport offices open Columbus Day weekend. But Lisa Kasianowitz, a DEP spokeswoman, said because of the diminished need, the weekend hours were eliminated.
She says the facilities dealt most with helping people with flood-debris removal and distributing water-testing kits.
“DEP staff has been working around the clock to make sure that these test kits are available, that flood-recovery efforts are ongoing and that the hardest-hit areas are getting the need that they deserve,” she said Friday.
DEP handed out almost 2,000 drinking water-test kits. Fewer than 900 came back for testing.
The agency’s Williamsport and Harrisburg offices are the last to remain open on weekends for flood recovery services.
DEP’s Norristown and Wilkes-Barre regional offices returned to normal business hours in the last week of September.
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