Hempfield couple say goodbye to flood-prone home — with help from township, state and feds

Rob and Lori Upholster are going to be in the market for a new place to live.

After enduring 13 floods inside their Hempfield home in the past 29 years, they are on the brink of getting federal funding to alleviate the situation and demolish their house. It’s emotional for them, the thought of giving up a place where they’ve made so many memories.

“We love it, we love our backyard,” Lori Upholster said. “If we could make it a way we would not flood, we would love to stay.”

But they’ve had enough of Slate Creek encroaching on their living space, which has been renovated numerous times.

“Our backyard looks like the Amazon (River)” during heavy rains, Rob Upholster said.

When they do get hit, it typically means hours of cleanup work and three to five months of waiting for renovations to be complete. Now they’re waiting again for answers they hope will give them a fresh start, maybe in a house on a hill, Rob joked.

“It’s going to be a lot of work to move, but it’s going to be better than packing things up and moving everything upstairs every time it rains,” Lori said.

The Upholsters have been working with Hempfield Township, the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and the Federal Emergency Management Agency for about six years to secure funding that would help the couple leave the flood plain on Redgrave Drive. Because the Upholsters have had what FEMA deems “severe repetitive loss,” it made them eligible for assistance, according to an email from PEMA shared with the Trib.

The couple in late 2022 was awarded $291,900 in federal funding, which would be funneled through Hempfield, said township manager Aaron Siko. Both Hempfield and the Upholsters believed that was the full amount they’d need for the demolition and to provide the couple with the property’s assessed value.

“The township took this project on years ago with the understanding that we would be a conduit to help this family out,” Siko said.

But after getting grant documents from PEMA more than a year later, Siko said, there was language in them that called for an unanticipated 25% local share — making Hempfield responsible for $73,000. That finding paused the project until officials could sort out the discrepancy.

“We were kind of taken aback and caught a little off guard by that,” he said.

PEMA officials told the Upholsters in an email Monday morning that they plan to ask FEMA to update the project funding to 100%, eliminating the local share, based on the property’s flooding history. The red tape has been frustrating for the Upholsters, who have lived in the house since 1996. It was built in 1968.

The Upholsters have had $220,000 in insurance claims for nine damaging floods, Rob said. Water has risen as high as 28 inches in the lower level.

There have been a few other times where only a couple inches of water came into the lower level of their split entry and garage. On those occasions, they opted to clean up on their own.

During heavy rains, water spills over the banks of Slate Creek and into the backyards of homes along Redgrave Drive, but the Upholsters’ backyard dips slightly lower than at neighboring houses. No other nearby residents have brought up similar home flooding problems, Siko said.

“It’s just the way the house sits on the property with the way that the stream rises right in that section,” he said. “The only thing that they can realistically do is architecturally change the layout of their home.”

The flooding frequency has altered the way the Upholsters use their lower level. When they moved in, it was carpeted living space. After one flood, it was renovated to have a bar area and less carpet. Over the years, it’s slowly changed to a gym and bar with tiled flooring. Appliances often get ruined by flooding.

When there’s precipitation in the forecast, the Upholsters spend hours moving items and vehicles out of reach.

“You never know. Every time, it’s so stressful, rain,” Lori said.

Once demolition is complete, Hempfield will take ownership of the property, which will remain empty, Siko said. Supervisor Doug Weimer said he is happy with the outcome.

“The years prior to stormwater management being enforced in the state caused this situation,” he said.

Rob Upholster is waiting for a demolition date before he gets too happy about the prospects of getting out of the floodwaters, but he’s more hopeful than he was last week thanks to the Monday email from PEMA. Picking up the house and moving it elsewhere would be ideal but impossible, Lori said.

“When they go to tear it down, we’re going to go over to our neighbor across the street,” she said. “I’ll be crying.”