A July 11 microburst ripped the roof off the Wyndon Apartments in Wynnewood, crushed a car in Narberth and triggered a township state of emergency.

For Lower Merion Commissioner Ray Courtney, who chairs the sustainability committee, the damage fit a pattern.

"We get a 100-year storm every year," Courtney told the Philadelphia Inquirer in an article published Wednesday, Aug. 12.

Courtney described the cumulative toll on the township: roads flooding consistently, trees coming down, power outages and overtime costs piling up for both the municipality and private residents cleaning up debris.

The township's own 2018 Comprehensive Stormwater Management Plan flagged the problems years ago, citing aging pipes, undersized infrastructure and increasing flooding. But much of Lower Merion was built before a 1978 state law that required local governments to plan with stormwater management in mind.

Since then, the township hired its first full-time sustainability manager in 2021 and completed its first sustainability plan in 2023. On Jan. 20, the state approved a $500,000 Pennsylvania Small Water and Sewer Program grant for Lower Merion's sanitary sewer lining and manhole rehabilitation, according to Department of Community and Economic Development records.

Township Manager Ernie McNeely reported roughly $50 million in recent capital projects at an April 2026 Lower Merion and Narberth Federation of Civics meeting, though that figure covers a range of investments including the new Ardmore Community Center, PALM senior center renovation and planned solar panels at Penn Wynne Library. Specific stormwater line items within that total have not been publicly broken out.

At the county level, Montgomery County has repaired 30 structurally deficient bridges since 2017 and removed 200 dangerous trees earlier in 2026, which officials said led to a significant drop in emergency calls about tree damage. The county also completed a flood mitigation planning study in 2025 for the 362-square-mile Perkiomen Creek Watershed and is carrying out a floodplain restoration project along the Wissahickon Creek in Whitemarsh Township. Both projects followed Hurricane Ida's devastation in 2021.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection announced more than $17 million in statewide funding for environmental projects in January, including stream restoration and stormwater management, though Lower Merion's share of that funding has not been specified.

The Board of Commissioners is in a five-week summer recess and no votes on stormwater or infrastructure measures are scheduled until the board reconvenes. Residents seeking to weigh in can monitor the township calendar at lowermerion.org for the next regular meeting date in September.