Horsham's Deep Meadow Park Could Reopen By Thursday

Much like the sunny skies and clear weather that immediately followed Hurricane Irene’s pummeling, Horsham Township, for the most part, shows little signs of being hit by a natural disaster.

Other than the ongoing closure of – which will reopen Wednesday or Thursday – all of the township’s roads, parks and public buildings are open.

“The damage wasn’t as great as what we were expecting listening to the forecast,” Township Manager Bill Walker said. “We were fearing a lot worse.” 

Deep Meadow Park, which houses fields that Horsham Little League uses for its games, is closed so township staff can fix the trails, which were washed away to the clay base two feet down, Walker said. The stone parking lot was also eroded, he said, and is being repaired.

“Once it’s safe for people to use, they’ll open the park back up,” Walker said.

The bigger issue, at least for the Horsham Little League and its players, involves the . Little League President Kevin Wall said the fall season is set to begin in just over a week.

"We may have to juggle the schedule for the first week or two until we're finished with the cleanup," Wall said in an e-mail. "But, the 200 or so players should not have to miss any games."

Walker said the park still has some usable fields and added that others are available for the league’s use throughout town.

The hope, Walker said, is that the Federal Emergency Management Agency covers the expense of field repairs, as it did about 10 years ago following a similar storm.

“The hope is what happened in 2001 happens again,” Walker said, adding that “one way or another” the repairs will be made.

As compared to the 70 home and business owners in neighboring Hatboro who contacted borough officials to seek FEMA funding for repairs, Walker said he’s heard from a “few” residents with flood-related property damage. For the most part, Walker said he’s instructing residents to contact their insurance agent.

“Anyone who calls us, we will visit their property or business,” Walker said. “We’re looking for the ones that were really flooded.”