100-Year Flood Wreaks Havoc

Alexis and Susan Meehan have never seen their house on Spencer Drive in Bristol Township’s Croydon section flood. But heavy rain that fell Monday afternoon and evening caused it to happen.

The two were removed from their homes with an escort from volunteer firefighters after dark Monday as their street was covered in several feet of water and their home, for the first time in memory, had water filling the inside.

And the Meehans weren’t the only ones.

Neighbors on Spencer Drive, surrounding streets, and apartment complexes also left after being visited by firefighters.

Bristol Township Emergency Management Director Kevin Dippolito said people evacuated from their homes were meeting at the Croydon Fire Company on State Road and being aided by the Red Cross. The nonprofit group plans to help by putting impacted residents in local hotels for the night.

In other parts of Croydon, Bristol Borough, and neighborhoods in Levittown, the flooding rain caused people to seek higher ground or leave their homes.

The National Weather Service said 6 to 10 inches of rain fell between Northeast Philadelphia and Florence, New Jersey over the period of three to four hours. The storm is estimated to have been a 100-year flood.

At one point, forecasters issued a rare Flash Flood Emergency, which called for residents to seek higher ground and said their lives could be in danger.

By Monday at 11 p.m., firefighters were wrapping up water rescues in Bristol Township and the cleanup was underway.

In Bristol Borough, debris was being removed and tow trucks pulled a car stalled when it was overtaken by water along Wilson Avenue.

Dippolito, Bristol Township’s emergency management director and fire marshal, said his agency was looking to gather a tally of damage to homes to relay that information to the county emergency management office. From there, the data could be sent to state and federal officials for aid.

Anyone in Bristol Township with storm or flooding damage has been asked to contact the municipal emergency management office at 267-812-2938.

Fire crews with rescue boats from around Bucks County, even the Riegelsville Fire Company in the far upper end, rushed to Lower Bucks County to assist with water rescues. Based on emergency radio traffic, the bulk of water rescues happened in Bensalem Township, Bristol Borough, and Bristol Township.

While many flooded spots had cleared up by 11 p.m., some were still water filled, including Cedar Avenue by the train station and on Veterans Highway (Route 413) near the I-95 exit. Trucks traveled slowly as they plowed through the flooding on Veterans Highway, causing a white wall of water to extend outward.

The afternoon and evening timing of the flash flooding caused major traffic delays around the area.

Nicole Werneth, a Bristol Borough resident, usually takes a SEPTA bus from her job to a bus stop near her Wilson Avenue residence. However, the bus dropped her off at the Wawa at Route 13 and Green Lane due to flooding. The water under the railroad bridge caused her to be blocked from getting home on the sidewalk.

She used the high ground of Amtrak’s Northeast Regional line to make her way to her home, causing her to walk through the heavy downpour for much longer than she usually would have.

On Spencer Drive, one nearby resident, Dana Macklin, remarked that traffic was tied up in the residential area due to the various roads being flooded.

“It was nuts,” she said.

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