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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; The photos of the collapsed wall along Solomon Creek showed the extent of the damage, but for a better picture, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey went to the see it for himself.</p><p>The up-close view Monday afternoon impressed upon him the urgent need for repairs, both short-term and long-term.</p><p>Casey, D-Scranton, the state&#8217;s senior senator, met with Mayor Tony George and members of his administration on the slushy streets of the South Wilkes-Barre neighborhood to get a look at the 40-foot section of the Depression-era stone wall that crumbled and fell into the creek bed. The rest of the channel wall had a noticeable lean where it pulled away from Brook Street between the bridges on Barney and Waller streets.</p><p>&#8220;I know the mayor and others are struggling with what to do right now,&#8221; Casey said. &#8220;And it&#8217;s very difficult to get emergency funding quickly either from the federal or state government, but we&#8217;re going to try.&#8221;</p><p>George declared a state of emergency after the collapse late Friday night and contacted Casey with the expectation the lawmaker could use his influence to free up funding. The mayor, who made the infrastructure project a campaign issue last year, estimated the cost between $12 million and $15 million for a comprehensive fix that&#8217;s been talked about for decades.</p><p>&#8220;It was authorized, but never appropriated, so it was never done,&#8221; George said.</p><p>The state has been quicker to respond, allocating $50,000 from the Department of Community and Economic Development last month for the repairs estimated to cost $196,000. The city bid out the work, and Pioneer Construction of Honesdale came in with the lowest cost of $164,250.</p><p>&#8220;We were in the process of trying to shore it up, but it came down before we got the contract signed,&#8221; George said.</p><p>The state funds are on hold, and the city is scrambling for a solution to prevent damage to buried utilities and protect against flooding in the area filled with houses, businesses, the Geisinger South medical center and Meyers High School.</p><p>&#8220;Thank God it&#8217;s snow now not rain. But next week it&#8217;s going to warm up again, the snow&#8217;s going to melt, and if it rains, we&#8217;re going to be in trouble. This is a temporary fix now, hopefully it holds a little bit,&#8221; the mayor said of the barriers and sandbags piled around the damaged section of wall.</p><p>How long the fix would have to hold was unknown, but it will have to do for a while.</p><p>&#8220;There&#8217;s no specific emergency funding,&#8221; Casey said. &#8220;We&#8217;re going to continue to scour and review every possible avenue for this.&#8221;</p><p>From his perspective, it won&#8217;t be easy and fast.</p><p>&#8220;I think at the federal level, to be brutally honest, the longer-term help is really going to be the area where we&#8217;ll have more success. There isn&#8217;t a lot of short-term money you can access very quickly,&#8221; Casey said. &#8220;I think that will even be challenging at the state level.&#8221;</p><p>The timing could not have been worse, he added. &#8220;We&#8217;ve got a new Congress coming in, and we&#8217;ve got a new administration coming in, so we have to start from the very beginning to continue to focus on those longer-term solutions.&#8221;</p><p>Casey said he planned to meet with W. Craig Fugate, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, an official with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and continue to be in contact with his Republican counterpart U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Moosic, state Sen. John Yudichak, D-Plymouth Township, and state Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Wilkes-Barre.</p><p>The collapse might have a positive effect in that it keeps the focus on a solution, Casey acknowledged. &#8220;It may be that this kind of event will get every level of government to stay engaged,&#8221; he said.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Ted Wampole, Wilkes-Barre city administrator, walked along Brook Street Monday afternoon where a section of the channel wall of Solomon Creek collapsed over the weekend, leading Mayor Tony George to declare a state of emergency and seek funds for repairs to prevent damage to buried utilities and protect the South Wilkes-Barre neighborhood from flooding. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_TTL121116SolomonCreek1-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Ted Wampole, Wilkes-Barre city administrator, walked along Brook Street Monday afternoon where a section of the channel wall of Solomon Creek collapsed over the weekend, leading Mayor Tony George to declare a state of emergency and seek funds for repairs to prevent damage to buried utilities and protect the South Wilkes-Barre neighborhood from flooding. </caption0><photoCredit0>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_TTL121116SolomonCreek2-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">With Wilkes-Barre Fire Department Chief Jay Delaney and state Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski looking on U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, left, went to South Wilkes-Barre Monday afternoon to view the collapsed wall along Solomon Creek and determine what federal funds could be used for short-term and long-term repairs. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_TTL121116SolomonCreek2-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>With Wilkes-Barre Fire Department Chief Jay Delaney and state Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski looking on U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, left, went to South Wilkes-Barre Monday afternoon to view the collapsed wall along Solomon Creek and determine what federal funds could be used for short-term and long-term repairs. </caption1><photoCredit1>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Senator says it&#8217;s &#8216;very difficult&#8217; to get emergency money</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jerry Lynott</p><p>jlynott@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott</p></shirttailMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta><p><table style="border:none;width:98%;" class="mceItemTable"><tbody><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoID:</td><td id="videoid" style="width:50em;font-size:90%;"> fZtj4td01MA</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoType:</td><td id="videotype" style="font-size:90%;"> YOUTUBE</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">URL:</td><td id="url" style="font-size:90%;"> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZtj4td01MA</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Embed String:</td><td id="videoembedstring" style="font-size:90%;"> &lt;iframe width=&#8221;560&#8221; height=&#8221;315&#8221; src=&#8221;https://www.youtube.com/embed/fZtj4td01MA&#8221; frameborder=&#8221;0&#8221; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Caption:</td><td id="videocaption" style="font-size:90%;"> Solomon Creek Wall Damage</p><p></td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Credit:</td><td id="videocredit" style="font-size:90%;"> Sean McKeag</p><p></td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Position:</td><td id="videoposition" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></p><p style="margin-top:10px;font-size:70%;color:#555;">(use the &#8220;for files&#8230;&#8221; link above to associate attached files with this source)</p></videoMeta></div>

Sen. Bob Casey: No quick fix for collapsed Solomon Creek wall