title
Resolution of the County of Allegheny, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, urging the committees of the Pennsylvania General Assembly to consider and its members to pass the Landslide Assistance & Insurance Program Act (Senate Bill 364 and House Bill 215) with all due haste to protect residents of Pennsylvania from landslide damage through the creation of the Landslide Insurance and Assistance Program within the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.
body
WHEREAS, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), landslides are responsible for causing damage to transportation routes, utilities, and buildings and create travel delays and other side effects; while most are moderate to slow moving, they damage things rather than people; and
WHEREAS, damage from landslides can still be significant - backyard landslides (common in the Pittsburgh area) are usually repaired incompletely or not at all, cost estimates of several hundred thousand dollars for stabilization and repair of a landslide affecting two or three properties are typical which often results in the abandonment of the property; and
WHEREAS, urban and rural land development is increasing both the number of landslides through the placement of fill to modify a slope, construction activities on the lower parts of slopes, and through changing of the drainage or moisture conditions of a slope; landslides can also be triggered by extreme amounts of rainfall, rain-on-snow events, or high soil moisture from long periods of moderately high rainfall; and
WHEREAS, although Southwestern Pennsylvania has the highest concentration of landslides, much of the state has susceptible areas making landslides a concern for the entire Commonwealth; a U.S. Geological Survey landslide-inventory map shows more than 1,200 recent and 900 old sides on one map in Green County while a study by the Pennsylvania Geological Survey mapped 480 recent and active landslides and nearly 1,000...
Click here for full text