Ridley Park flooding ruins homes

Flooding across the Delaware Valley left motorists stranded and made a mess of the Monday morning commute.

Residents in Ridley Park faced torrential rain that flooded basements of half a dozen homes. Neighbors are blaming a local railroad.

"I could hear this gushing sound," said Hallie Halliday.

That gushing sound was the movement of the lake that had formed Monday morning behind the homes on East Rodgers Street in Ridley Park. Following the drenching rain, three to four feet of water was suddenly rushing toward Halliday.

"I heard the gush of it, pulling the door off the hinges and the water just gushing into the basement. It just broke the door off? Yup," said Halliday.

New furniture floating in water about three feet high.

"It was a finished basement. It was my son's man cave. We had a bar down there that we constructed. All kinds of sports memorabilia all over the walls. Everything is wet, ruined," said Donna Thornton.

Water also got into Mary Strootman's basement, ruining items in there and the tools in her shed. She's lived in the neighborhood 30 years and the backyard does flood, but never like Monday.

"This was all water here. How high was it? Eight or nine inches," Ken McCrae said.

Water also got into Ken McCrae's home. What caused all the flooding? There are train tracks behind the homes. Neighbors say CSX crews had been working on debris removal last week. They believe the crews inadvertently blocked the sewer drain.

"Once CSX covered up the drain, there was no place for the water to go," said McCrae.

Then, the water just sat without draining.

"Usually it'll go away right after it stops raining, but it wasn't happening," Strootman explained.

It wasn't until cleanup crews got to the drain and removed the debris in it.

"Opened it up and the water just done in a flash," McCrae stated.

"It literally just looked like a pool just sinking. I mean, it was so fast," said Owen Dunn, of Pro Action Restoration.

Now the neighbors want answers.

"I'm exhausted. I'm upset. I'm disappointed. It was preventable. This didn't need to happen," said Thornton.