Storms flood roads, spur multiple water rescues in Delaware County, Pennsylvania
Strong storms packing high winds and heavy rain flooded roads and knocked out power for thousands of people in Delaware County and other areas in Pennsylvania on Friday.
Dispatchers across Montgomery, Chester and Delaware counties said crews responded to multiple water rescues with cars stuck in water. Police said five drivers got stranded in the water in different parts of the West Chester borough, four of whom had to be rescued. The fifth driver was able to get out on their own accord.
Emergency responders were dealing with several flooded roads in West Chester, Pennsylvania, according to police and county officials. Public information officer Dave March shared this photo with us, showing a car submerged in water.
The area was one of the hardest hit by the storm, with preliminary rainfall estimates from the National Weather Service indicating 2-3 inches of rain fell Friday.
East Gay Street near Montgomery Avenue was closed for two and a half hours on Friday due to the flooding. Plus, four lanes of traffic had to be diverted onto North Bolmar Street.
Some of the floodwater even got into businesses, like Parkway Cleaners. Matt Lewis, the general manager, said that for him, the severe storms' impact came as a surprise.
"I was shocked because it hasn't been this bad in a while, and I knew we were getting thunderstorms, but that was all I knew," said Lewis. "I didn't know we were getting the extent of water to cause it to flood out the main road coming into West Chester."
Some residents said parts of this area are prone to flooding.
"I say, 'Here comes the rain. Watch everybody go crazy.' I'm ready to do a water rescue if I need to, but I put myself on the line to help another person out," said Billy Garrett, who lives in Cheyney.
In Marple Township, a car was stuck in the water, and crews were called out to make a rescue before the driver got out on their own.
On I-76, travelers were dealing with standing water on the highway. Total Traffic cameras showed cars splashing through and reducing speeds on the road. Fortunately, no one was injured in the storm.
Over 1,900 people in Delaware County, 1,800 people in Montgomery County and 1,600 people in Chester County were without power at one point Friday afternoon, according to PECO's outage tracker.
There were several hundred outages in Bucks County as well, but those numbers were dropping.
The outages affect less than 5% of the customers in those counties.
