It was clean up and dry out time for dozens of homeowners along the Neshaminy Creek in Lower Bucks County on Friday.
After the remnants of Hurricane Ida dumped between four and 10 inches of rain on the county Wednesday night – depending on the spot – and the Neshaminy rose six feet above major flood stage on Thursday, residents along the creek were emptying out their basements and garages Friday to shovel out the mud and see what could be saved.
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The Neshaminy by Friday morning had receded back pretty much to within its normal boundaries.
Flooding like the kind seen on Thursday leaves so much mud it has to be cleared away with a snow shovel, said Chris Zefferi, owner of a Main Street house that sits along the creek in Hulmeville Borough.
“The worst part isn’t the water, but the mud it leaves,” he said. “I mean, a lawn mower will still work if it gets wet, but it won’t work if it’s all covered and clogged up with mud. You have to shovel it out of the garage and basement and off the driveway with a snow shovel.”
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Like all the flooding victims along the Neshaminy interviewed by LevittownNow.com the last two or three days, Zefferi got between one and five feet of water in his garage and basement, but none in his main living areas on the first floor and above. Many if not most of the houses near the Neshaminy in Lower Bucks have been elevated to minimize flood damage.
Most of the damage is to possessions and is not structural, and most homeowners have flood insurance, though Zefferi said he doesn’t because he doesn’t have a mortgage and he didn’t think the annual $1,400 cost of insurance was worth it.
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Still, his first experience with flooding at his Hulmeville Borough house was your basic nightmare, as he tried to clear things out of the way and then clean up after the water had receded with a broken right foot and while caring for his seven-year-old son.
“The doctor told me to keep the foot clean and dry,” Zefferi said. “That’s a little hard to do when you’re dealing with a flood. My son’s first day of school was supposed to be on Thursday. They ended up canceling school because of the storm, but even if they hadn’t I don’t think I would have sent him. He was so over excited and stimulated, and had been up all night because of the flood.”
County officials said the Neshaminy crested at 20.84 feet, more than six feet above major flood stage and less than two feet under the record crest of 22.8 feet.
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Zefferi said he remembers when his family’s house in the Mill Creek section of Levittown endured major flooding in 1997.
“I was a freshman in college and had to drive home to help my father out,” he said. “One thing I’ve noticed about disasters is that all your neighbors come to help you out. They kind of bring people together.”
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Zefferi’s Hulmeville neighbor Bert Turner said she’s been dealing with flooding at her house for many years.
“The first one from (Hurricane) Floyd in 1999 was a surprise, but this one wasn’t,” she said. “One of the most annoying things is that the people upstream leave so much junk on their yards, it gets washed away downstream during floods and the people downstream have to deal with it.
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“There’s empty propane tanks, old furniture, rotting tree stumps. After this flood, I found a baby mattress that washed down from somewhere upstream.”
On Periwinkle Avenue in Middletown Township, where residents have endured intermittent flooding from the Neshaminy for many years, Thomas and Maureen Walko had cleared stuff out of their basement and garage onto their driveway. Friday, they were cleaning off the mud and seeing what was salvageable.
Credit: Chris English/LevittownNow.com
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The couple have lived on the street for 42 years, and Maureen said Thursday this flooding was the worst since Floyd in 1999 and it might be time to get out. Thomas wasn’t so sure when asked on Friday.
“It’s a tough decision,” he said. “If events like this become more frequent, and they might because of climate change, it might really be time to consider it.”
Credit: Chris English/LevittownNow.com
Just down the street, Periwinkle resident Barrett Zelenik estimated he and his wife Myra suffered roughly $2,000 in damages from the flood. Insurance will cover things like replacing the oil burner in the basement, but not other things, he said.
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“It is what it is,” Zelenik said of the flooding. “It comes with the territory when you live near water.”
Credit: Chris English/LevittownNow.com
That’s roughly the attitude that’s been adopted by 35-year Periwinkle Avenue residents Gary and Christine Morin.
“Floyd was a little worse than this,” Gary said. “We love it here. People ask after floods why we stay, and I tell them it’s gorgeous down here.”
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“It’s beautiful when stuff like this isn’t happening,” his wife added.
Work crews from Middletown Township were on Periwinkle and adjacent streets Friday, helping with aspects of the clean-up.
Bucks County officials are trying to assess total damages from Ida, and residents can help by filling out damage assessment forms available at https://buckscounty.gov/1340/Damage-Assessment-Form.
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