Flash Flooding Leaves Behind Swirling Pile Of Garbage On Schuylkill River
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PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Sandals, soccer balls, a life vest that might have come in handy and more plastic bottles than you can count have been consumed by the raging Schuylkill River and deposited along the concrete banks of Fairmount Park.
"I'm not too happy about it but that's kind of the way it is, when nature makes up her mind she washes it out," said Andrew Coffin of Phoenixville.
While logs and branches make up a large portion of the debris, it's hard to ignore the dozens of balls and other personal items that might have been a child's treasured belonging until an epic rain event this week washed it all away.
"Gives a sense of how vulnerable people's property is when we get all that heavy rain and flooding and how easily things can just get washed away," said John Mink of South Philadelphia.
"We pray for the rain, God gives us the rain but not it's too much, needs to stop," said Monicah Bowen of Darby.
Many park visitors couldn't help but stop and stare at the sheer volume of debris which at times created a 30 foot-thick track along more than a hundred feet of riverbank below the Fairmount Dam.
Sophomore Temple rower Rylie Hager says it's sad to see there river where her team practices looking like a floating landfill.
"It's pretty awful, it's like mind blowing really. I wish there was something that everyone could do about it," she said.
The Philadelphia Water Department says they will clean up the trash with skimmer boats once the currents calm down.
