Credit: Tom Sofield/NewtownPANow.com
The torrential downpour that unleashed a deluge of stormwater runoff that washed into the 1000 block of Washington Crossing Road (Route 532), leaving people trapped and sweeping some away, was of a magnitude not seen in recent memory in the area.
The section of Upper Makefield Township isn’t unaccustomed to washouts along local roads and minor street flooding in downpours, but no one has seen before what happened Saturday evening.
NewtownPANow.com exclusively heard from a man whose wife was traveling when the roadway flooded and she was swept away.
The man, who wished to not have his name or that of his wife revealed, said she called him as her SUV was surrounded by water while on her way home. In an incredibly short amount of time, the water rose and she was on the phone with 9-1-1 and exited her SUV. She was swept away in the raging water.
The woman was able to grab onto a guardrail and then climb onto a tree, where she waited some time for rescue, her husband said.
The woman held on for her life and ended up helping a young man who was swept away in the flash flooding after having to punch open his vehicle’s window to escape. It turned out the young man was a friend of her son.
When rescue crews were finally able to get to the woman, she was pulled from the flood zone and taken to a nearby hospital for treatment for lacerations to her hands, her husband said.
The young man who had to punch open his window was also rescued by authorities.
The woman’s husband said the water came quickly and was strong enough to push his wife’s SUVs.
While speaking with a reporter and law enforcement official Sunday morning, he said he was grateful his wife survived the terrifying ordeal.
Officials have said there were 11 vehicles that became trapped on Washington Crossing Road as the flash flooding tore through the area. The flood washed down from surrounding hills and overwhelmed the normally-tame Houghs Creek.
As of Sunday evening, the bodies of five adults who were killed in the flooding were retrieved. A 9-month-old boy and his 2-year-old sister remained missing.
Tim Brewer, the chief of the Upper Makefield Township Volunteer Fire Company, said he’s never seen anything like what happened Saturday evening, where feet of water quickly swept in, whisking cars and people away. The chief noted he has been in emergency services for four decades.
“It just rose that fast. It was violent and fast-moving,” the chief said.
Brewer and other emergency responders on Sunday shared stories of people being rescued from the rising flood waters.
On Aqueduct Road along the Houghs Creek, the force of the flooding was visible as parts of the pavement were washed away, large limbs rested on the banks, and the dirt surrounding the stormwater drainage pipes were eroded.
A woman, who lives along Aqueduct Road, told a reporter she hasn’t seen flooding that serious in her 16 years living in the area. She recalled flooding during Hurricane Irene and Ida in the past, but it was “nothing like this.”
The full extent of the flooding caused by the 6 to 7 inches that fell in under an hour are expected to emerge in the coming days.
