Dangerous Flood Waters Blamed for at least one Philadelphia Area Death
Last week, during the last weeks in August 2011, hurricane Irene pummeled the east coast with high wind speeds and heavy rain. The city of Philadelphia saw street, residential, and business flooding like they had not seen in several years. Although some flood water related deaths occurred along the east coast last week, fortunately Philadelphia residents seemed to be mostly spared, left with only the inconvenience and financial woes of clean up.
This week, Tropical Storm Lee took Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York residents by surprise, continuing to drench the region in rain. Just as the flood waters caused by the aftermath of hurricane Irene began to subside, heavy rains from Tropical Storm Lee are beginning to re-flood several areas.
Several Philadelphia and Pennsylvania residents are being closely monitored to ensure evacuations are made when necessary, but an evacuation has obviously come too late for one Philadelphia area resident. An elderly man from central Pennsylvania has died after becoming trapped in a building collapse.
Derry Township Police Chief Patrick O’Rourke told reporters that a man in his 70s died Wednesday afternoon when the walls of his basement collapsed while he was trying to bail water from his flooding home. The wall collapse is presumed to have occurred due to the pressures of flood waters at this time.
The man’s death is sadly not the only that has been caused by dangerous flood waters in the last several hours near Philadelphia. Evacuees from a flooded Pennsylvania trailer park who were leaving by boat were overturned and forced to cling to trees while a second boat arrived. The extent of injuries to the evacuees is unknown at this time.
As flood waters continue to rise near Philadelphia, the Schuylkill Expressway and several other main arteries are now closed. A declaration of disaster has been called in Towanda, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia area residents are asked to use their best judgment and to evacuate when necessary to avoid further injury and disaster.
