BS: delaware river flooding

Subject: BS: delaware river flooding
From: RangerSteve
Date: 18 Sep 04 - 11:28 PM

Hurricane Ivan missed most of New Jersey, but hit Pennsylvania and Lower New York State, so all that rain is now coming down the Lehigh and Delaware Rivers. I spent the afternoon barricading roads along the river, then settled down to watch it rise, which it's doing pretty fast. I left for home after the Office of Emergency Management advised me that this would rival the flood of 1955, which I only know from history books of the area, but it's the flood that all other floods here are measured by. It washed away most of the bridges between NJ and PA. All of the river towns have been told to evacuate to higher ground by midnight.
   So if you were thinking of travelling into the Delaware Valley, change your plans.
   On the plus side, I may not be able to get to my park tomorrow, and I won't have to deal with campers for a while.
   And if you have any friends in the area, they could use some sympathy right now.

Subject: RE: BS: delaware river flooding
From: Nerd
Date: 18 Sep 04 - 11:36 PM

Damn, I have to cross the Delaware every day.

Luckily, I use the Ben Franklin Bridge, which is unlikely to be flooded out!

Subject: RE: BS: delaware river flooding
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 19 Sep 04 - 03:29 AM

I don't remember the flood of '55. Of course, we were a good ten miles or so from the Delaware in Northeast Philly, and I was only a year old.   I do remember being wet a lot that year, though...

Aloha,
Mark

(Hope everybody's safe. My mom in Jenkintown said they didn't get much rain on Saturday.)

Subject: RE: BS: delaware river flooding
From: Cats
Date: 19 Sep 04 - 12:40 PM

I'm sure a that everyone here who has been involved in any way, shape or form, with the recent flooding in Boscastle, and North Cornwall, send their thoughts to all of you out there at the moment. There is life afterwards and you find out just how kind real people are.

Subject: RE: BS: delaware river flooding
From: harpgirl
Date: 19 Sep 04 - 02:44 PM

sorry about that Steve. Hurricane Ivan has been horrible. The Florida rivers are all swollen to the max at the moment!

Subject: RE: BS: delaware river flooding
From: Bev and Jerry
Date: 20 Sep 04 - 12:52 AM

Steve:

Don't let this thread die. Keep us posted. We're headed that way in about two weeks.

Bev and Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: delaware river flooding
From: GUEST,Pete Peterson
Date: 20 Sep 04 - 09:12 AM

Rivers were receding in northern Bucks county by 7 PM Sunday. In Riegelsville, where we live, flooding was not bad: the river did not get high enough to come into town, and no businesses or dwellings were flooded in the village itself. (There is a guitar shop where my best guitar is getting a neck reset; I spoke to the owners when we were both out watching the Delaware on Sunday morning & they said all instruments had meed moved to higher ground-- turned out to be an unnecessary precaution but on Saturday night nobody KNEW) Routes 611 and 32, which run along or near the river, are (as of last night) closed in lots of places below Easton and above Phila. The Riegelsville bridge was closed as a precaution; the water got up to within about 8' of the mesh "surface" but no closer. (We learned about this at 12:30 AM Sunday after getting back from a gig in NYC; took 45' to make a wide swing around, get across the Delaware on the Interstate 78 bridge, and take the 2nd exit in PA and back roads home since as already knew Rt 611 was flooded) Bev and Jerry-- things will probably be back to normal (river below flood stage) by tomorrow.

Subject: RE: BS: delaware river flooding
From: wysiwyg
Date: 20 Sep 04 - 09:18 AM

Sorry we sent so much downhill to y'all. Couldn't keep it up here.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: delaware river flooding
From: Bev and Jerry
Date: 20 Sep 04 - 06:49 PM

It sounds like it was no where near as bad as the network TV news made it out to be. Par for the course.

Bev and Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: delaware river flooding
From: RangerSteve
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 05:29 PM

On Saturday we evacuated our campground. I spent the day watching the river rise, and it rose pretty fast. The local police depts were asking everyone to go to higher ground, and someone from the county Office of Emergency Management told me that it would rival the flood of 1955, which would have been a real calamity, but, as it turned out, it wasn't that bad. I left work at 9pm,an hour early, because it looked like I might get trapped if I didn't.   I went back the next morning and my park was completely underwater. The park consists of a canal and an old rail line converted into a bike/hiking path along the Delaware, a total of about 40 miles, along with a lot of surrounding lands. Route 29 along the river was closed in most places, and the towns on the New Jersey side were mostly under water. The biggest problem that the park rangers and local police had was with the people who came down to watch the flood. They treated it like a festive occasion, and basically got in the way of the rescue squads and fire depts that were trying to salvage what they could. I ended up staying on duty for 32 hours, with two periods where I went home and got 2 hours sleep. I was amazed at the number of people who came down to the park headquarters and wanted to get it, considering that it was pretty obvious the place was flooded. The usually quiet canal was a class 5 whitewater rapid flowing over the bridge, but that didn't deter people. "it's okay, we brought boots". It's fortunate for the public that I can't shoot people for being stupid. Some people didn't even know there was a flood. The most often asked stupid question was "when will the water go down", as if this was a regular occurance that adhered to a strict schedule. Anyway, it's mostly over, and should be back to normal by the weekend. Some houses were sent down the river, along with a lot of other property and trees, but no lives were lost.
Pete and Kelly, I was thinking of you guys, and I'm glad you and your house are okay.

Subject: RE: BS: delaware river flooding
From: GUEST,Pete Peterson
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 06:55 PM

I was in Riegelsville today and the flood waters never got into town. River still high, but no damage that I saw in town. Newspaper reports show bad flooding in Easton and New Hope and down to Yardley. Wasn't there some park ranger who compiled a list of stupid questions and the answers he WANTED to give?? See ya soon Steve!

Subject: RE: BS: delaware river flooding
From:
Date: 22 Sep 04 - 02:30 AM

I'm a former Phillips Mill resident (just north of New Hope on 32). I'm interested in knowning whether homes were flooded between the canal and the river.

Subject: RE: BS: delaware river flooding
From: katlaughing
Date: 22 Sep 04 - 03:14 AM

Whew, Steve, I hope you get some well-sederved rest now! Thanks for letting us know how it's going....

kat

Subject: RE: BS: delaware river flooding
From: MAG
Date: 23 Sep 04 - 01:03 AM

Thanks for the heads up; I just discovered this, having no television.

I need to call my folks in Salem County.