Worst river flooding expected after storm passes
The worst of the rain and wind might pass through this area Sunday, but for some communities along the Delaware River, bigger destruction is yet to come.
The worst of the rain and wind might pass through this area Sunday, but for some communities along the Delaware River, bigger destruction is yet to come.
In a day or so, the swollen river is expected to crest to levels reminiscent of devastating floods in 2004, 2005 and 2006.
Gov. Corbett said parts of Pennsylvania - not just the Philadelphia area, but also the Lehigh Valley and eastern Poconos - could experience "severe flooding."
On major rivers, especially the Delaware, the risk of major flooding will continue to grow even as the storm passes on Sunday. Rain water runoff from northern New Jersey and New York will flow down the river in increasing volume for days, Corbett said.
"This event may not be just a 24-hour event when you consider the flooding," Corbett said Saturday. "The river may not crest until sometime Tuesday or Wednesday."
Business owners and residents took drastic steps to protect their properties.
On River Road near Washington Crossing, in Bucks County, Francisco Argueta removed everything from his 70-seat restaurant, Francisco's On the River.
The restaurant is so close to the river that Argueta could easily toss a stone from the entrance into the roiling brown current. Relatives and workers helped him to pack up everything - stoves, refrigerators, tables, chairs, paintings, even rugs - and load it into a rental truck to take to higher ground.
Argueta, who has worked at the restaurant since 1998, owning it for the last three, has been constantly monitoring the Website for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the federal agency that predicts when the Delaware will crest.
It's estimating the river will hit its high point on Monday after noon at 15 feet above normal at the New Hope-Lambertville Bridge - and that's bad news for Argueta.
"There's nothing else we can do," Argueta said.
Down the road in Yardley, Michelle Mohollen, general manager of the Yardley Inn, came to the same conclusion. At noon Saturday, she made the difficult decision to totally disassemble the restaurant's raised garden, located on a plot by the river.
Just last April, the restaurant installed the fenced-off kitchen garden, which has 19 raised beds, now abundant with herbs and vegetables.
It clearly pained Mohollen to take it all apart. "I told our guests to come out and pick whatever they wanted," she said.
But if there's one thing Mohollen knows, it's not to mess with the river. In 2006, the river was 26 feet above normal in Yardley. NOAA is predicting that this time around, it could hit 24.5 feet - "which means we're in trouble," Mohollen said.
Along the Delaware, a disaster like Hurricane Irene is a slow-motion emergency. While the rest of the region dries off and enjoys what is expected to be a sunny Monday, riverfront residents will be anxiously waiting and watching to see just how high the Delaware will get.
"It's a little surreal," said Jan Vitart, who, with her husband Joel, owns C'est La Vie French Bakery and Cafe, located just below the New Hope-Lambertville Bridge.
In New Hope, the highest level in recent memory was a crest of 19.6 feet on April 4, 2005. Vitart said if the crest this time is less than 16 feet, her home and bakery should be all right.
But just in case, she's keeping an eye on a gooseberry bush, growing by the patio. It was from a plant owned by her late mother. She knows she'll have to uproot it and take it to higher ground if the river rises more than expected.
"We wait, we watch, we pray," said her husband Joel.