Local heroes saved lives during Ida
Dozens of people were carried to safety from homes filling with rising water and rescued from submerged cars.
The ravages of Hurricane Ida took a toll in Montgomery and Chester counties, causing unprecedented flooding and spawning tornedoes, one that tore a swath through several townships in Montgomery County.
In Norristown, the Schuylkill River rose to its highest level ever, 13 feet above flood stage, covering streets, bridges and low lying areas. The nearby Perkiomen Creek also hit a record level, inundating areas of Schwenksville and Perkiomen Township.
In Chester County, multiple people had to be rescued from flood waters as five inches of rain fell in Chadds Ford, swelling the Brandywine. Coatesville and Downingtown saw record levels of flooding, necessitating rescues from homes and vehicles.
“Hurricane Ida delivered up to seven feet of flood water over six hours that damaged more than 60 homes and rental properties,” said Coatesville City Manager James Logan on Friday. “Ninetyfive percent of those properties housed renters who may be displaced anywhere from weeks to months.”
Tragically, 4 Montgomery County residents died, including a woman struck by a tree crashing into her Fort Washington home as a tornado ripped through Upper Dublin. Three men drowned in the county, one in a Bridgeport home that was flooded, and two others in cars, one in Skippack and one in Milford, Bucks County.
Donald Bauer, of Perkiomenville got his wife Katherine out through a busted back windshield as his car was being overcome by rising water in Milford, according to an Associated Press report.
“My father started pushing my mom out, and telling her to go and go and go,” said the couple’s son, Darby Bauer. “All she remembers from being pushed out of the car was him touching her one last time, shouting at her to go.”
Katherine Bauer clung to a tree and watched the rising waters carry their Mazda SUV out of sight. She was rescued about an hour later.
Donald Bauer’s body was found the next morning. He was still in the vehicle.
The couple had attended their daughter’s college volleyball game and were trying to return to their Perkiomenville home in the worsening storm when their Mazda died and began to float.
Darby Bauer said his father, a 65-year-old retired school bus driver, “100%” saved his mother’s life.
Donald Bauer “had one of the biggest hearts we knew,” his son said. “He was selfless down to his last act.”
Firefighters conducting water rescues saved dozens of people, carrying them to safety from apartments and homes filling with rising water and pulling people from submerged cars. Norristown Fire Department members and volunteers worked “nonstop for 36 hours” according to the department’s Facebook page alongside other area dapartments conducting water searches and rescues.
In one case, the Berwyn Fire Department in Chester County labored for four hours to free a motorist from a car swept into Valley Creek near Valley Forge National Park. Crews used ropes and worked in lines to get to motorists stranded in the fast rising waters, putting themselves in danger of getting swept away.
In apartments and homes, water rescue teams evacuated families, carrying children and the disabled when necessary to get them to safety. In many cases, they rescued pets as well, including a prolonged rescue in Perkasie getting a woman and her dog out of a partially submerged vehicle in the rising East Branch of the Perkiomen Creek.
Now the cleanup begins in communities where tornadoes and water left behind debris, mud and ruin, and community volunteers will continue to put aside their own needs to help. The resilience of towns throughout this region has been tested once again and will be shown to work together in survival.
The terror of rising water did not deter firefighters and rescue teams in Hurricane Ida. We offer our heartfelt thanks and appreciation for the sacrifice and life-saving efforts amid the devastation of this storm. If not for these local heroes, the toll would have been much worse.