Delaware County residents are feeling ‘abandoned’ after the Trump Administration cut grants for work meant to mitigate flooding for Darby Creek and Cobbs Creek, writes Katie Bernard for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
A technical assistance grant from FEMA would have helped Delaware County find solutions to expected flooding problems for Colwyn, Sharon Hill and Darby Township from a levee project along Cobbs Creek that is supposed to alleviate flooding in Eastwick, a Southwest Philadelphia neighborhood.
FEMA experts and consultants would have coordinated with the communities affected by the flooding, normally an extremely costly expense for communities.
The Delco grant was canceled in April.
“The federal government has abandoned our local community, and the decisions that are being made right now are just completely upside down and really have no understanding of how things work in local communities,” said Delaware County Council member Elaine Schaefer, a Democrat.
Now the county has to find its own funds to explore solutions.
The technical assistance grant would have been followed by a Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant to put into place the solutions offered.
The BRIC program was also canceled by the Trump Administration.
Read more local reaction to the grant cancellations in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Editor’s Note: This post was initially published on DELCO Today in September 2025.
