Northeast Philadelphia Residents Salvaging What They Can After Heavy Rain Causes Flooding
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Flooding made a real mess in Northeast Philadelphia on Monday. Residents along Millbrook Road are trying to salvage whatever they can after the road was completely underwater.
This is the calm after the storm. It looked a lot different on Monday compared to what we are seeing Tuesday afternoon.
Neighbors say the street was completely flooded.
The water level was so high on Whiting Road, right off Millbrook Road, that it was moving cars around.
The Givens family is cleaning up Tuesday after the heavy rain flooded their basement, ceiling, skylight, kitchen and bathroom.
They tell CBS3 it was their first day back from vacation. They went to work and came home to everything leaking.
"There was tons of water in the basement, the ceiling's leaking, our skylight is leaking, the kitchen wall is leaking," Rachel Givens said. "Water is just coming out of everywhere."
What made the situation more distressing is they put all their savings into remodeling their home -- and had just recently completed the updates.
"I'm usually super positive, but last night I just lost it… my dad called and I couldn't stop bawling," Rachel Givens said. "Today we woke up and we're putting it back together."
That's $13,000 down the drain.
Some neighbors are complaining that storm drains in the area haven't been cleaned out, which led to the river-like flooding.
"The cars were flooded up to the roof of the car," Anthony Shannon said.
At least one vehicle was towed away, but some neighbors are waiting it out.
"She tried to start her car and nothing happened at all. Nothing. There's all types of debris under it and inside there's a lot of water damage," Shannon said.
Mayor Kenney's office says the water department visited this area prior to Monday's storm and again after flooding was reported. Floodwaters drained quickly, indicating the sewer system was functioning normally.
Inlets were also checked and appear to be working, so the backed-up water cannot be attributed to debris or inlet clogging.
That doesn't offer any relief to those faced with damages.
"That's the thing, it was an SUV and still it went up high," Shannon said.
Also in Northeast Philly, the Red Cross is assisting 19 residents that experienced flooding on the 3600 block of Red Lion Road.
A number of neighbors called their insurance companies, but it doesn't seem the flood damage is being covered. For now, everyone is trying to dry everything out before another bout of showers passes through.
