MUDDY WATERS
COUNTY BEGINS TO CLEAN UP AFTER DEVASTATING STORM
UPPER DARBY » Delaware County businesses and residents began the long haul to clean up after Tropical Storm Isaias dumped as much as 6 inches of rain across Delaware County, producing flooding not seen in years.
Tuesday evening Delaware County Council Chairman Brian Zidek issued a disaster declaration in response to the damage across the county as a result of the storm.
PECO reported 425,000 customers were impacted by the storm, with 5,300 customers still without power in Delaware County as of 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
According to the National Weather Service, rainfall totals in Delaware County were 6.01 inches in Swarthmore, 4.91 inches in Norwood, 8.06 inches in Wynnewood and 4.16 inches officially at the Philadelphia airport.
The U.S. Geological Survey measurement gauge for Darby Creek, located near Providence Road, went from a discharge of
27 cubic feet of water per second at 2 a.m. Tuesday morning to 5,130 cubic feet of water per second at
11:30 a.m. and off the gauge until the evening when it began to drop.
The Bond Shopping Center on Lansdowne Avenue, 69th Street around Marshall Road, and Darby Borough were among the hardesthit areas in the county.
Crews on Wednesday were boarding up three stores at Bond Shopping Center, which had the front walls and doors cave in as debris and water flooded the stores. Petco, Dollar Tree and ATI Physical Therapy were closed as a result; three other business suffered water damage. Around the corner, crews at Beatty Lumber were also cleaning up. Staff said the damage was significant but declined to elaborate.
There was even greater damage along 69th Street and Marshall roads.
“We hope to be re-open by Saturday,” said Harold Berry, chief of security for the store. “We have a shuttle that can take customers to our other stores.”
Berry compared the flooding to one a number of years ago when the store was a Pathmark and employees had to be taken off the roof.
Both gas stations at the corner of 69th and Marshall were closed as crews tried to determine if water had gotten into the tanks. At the nearby Treen & Bryne Auto Sales lot, more than a dozen cars sat with flood debris and mud on their paints. A person in the office said they were all destroyed but he didn’t have time to talk.
Across the street at the 69th Street Car Wash, owner Johnny Singh surveyed the damage. He said his business was a total loss. He did not have flood insurance and didn’t know the area had a history of flooding when he leased the property.
“I heard it happened in 2004. Once we know something is coming, we should protect,” Singh said. “Sixteen years and they can’t fix it, something is wrong. I have done my job, pay all taxes and follow the rules. Somebody has not done their job.”
Upper Darby Mayor Barbarann Keffer said officials issued an emergency declaration to qualify for state and federal funds. She noted police, firefighters and public works employees had rescued 70 people from flood waters. The Red Cross had also aided a number of residents in that area whose homes had flooded.
Keffer said in advance of the storm, public work crews had cleared drains of debris but the amount of water overwhelmed the capacity.
“It was bad, bad, bad, but we’re overdeveloped. Anytime we get bad storms those areas get hit,” said Keffer. She said developers and officials in Upper Darby and upstream towns need to follow stormwater management policies. “We have to take a hard look at what is allowed. All communities up-stream need to be aware of their impact.”
“The store is a total loss. It’s up to half the ceiling. We’ll have to throw everything out, including the equipment which we just got,” said Jay Shin, son of the owners of Fibber’s bar and restaurant at the corner of Marshall Road and 69th Street. Shin said the water quickly rose from the street level to his doorstep in just minutes. “We’re lucky. The water was coming so fast. The biggest thing was getting my crew out of here. They didn’t understand. I was telling them, ‘We’ve got to go now.’ We were able to get everybody out safely, so that was the biggest thing.”
At Fibber’s Suds and Soda (no relation to the Upper Darby restaurant) in Darby, employees waited as two dumpsters were delivered to haul the entire stock, which had been sitting in murky water, to the dump.
Darby was the epicenter of the storm. Multiple organizations were assisting with repairs. PECO was inspecting some of the 30 properties that flooded for gas issues, while state officials were inspecting two bridges for damage, one on Pine Street and the Springfield Road bridge, which was struck by a large truck container that had become wedged under the bridge. A crane was brought in and crews spent the entire day trying to figure out how to remove it.
“We are hosing the streets now and have Public Works picking up debris,” borough Manager Mark Possenti said. “We evacuated 5060 people who we put up in the Rec Center. The Red Cross assisted us with that.”
“Today is a big clean-up day. A lot of residents and business owners are just cleaning up their basements today. Hopefully we’ll be back up and running soon. It was a pretty big one. It’s been a big group effort and everything went well.”
Wednesday afternoon U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-5 of Swarthmore, toured a few of the homes and businesses damaged in Colwyn. She talked with a number of residents who had waters flood their home.
“I’m worried about my neighbor. They have small children and need help. If my neighbor isn’t doing good, I’m not doing good,” said Kaimark Buffaloe. “We could use help on figuring out the insurance requirements and recovery.”
Buffaloe described sandbagging his basement Tuesday morning as the water rose.
“My door flew in,” exclaimed Bufflaoe. “I’m a 10-year veteran of the Army. Not a lot scares me, but I was a bit nervous.”
At the Delaware County Business Park in Colwyn, John Cacciutti said nine business had been flooded out, requiring them to throw out valuable equipment. He also told the congresswoman about the floods that that have occurred there over the years and described a storm retention basin that has silted over and filled with trees, limiting its usefulness.
Scanlon said these are the sorts of projects that could be part of an infrastructure bill to get the economy back on its feet. She said she wanted to see the damage for herself. Gov. Tom Wolf is making a request for relief funds, which she would support.
“Coming on top of everything else, with people being out of work, the unemployment insurance expiring, people are on their last nerves – that is what I heard a lot today,” Scanlon said.