Homes, Businesses Damaged By Flooding In New Castle County
By Jan Carabeo
NEW CASTLE, Del. (CBS) -- There are a number of roads here in New Castle County that are still closed this evening because of flooding, Airport Road included.
The water comes up to a speed limit sign and if you push farther down the road, a car is only visible by its roof.
Whether with waiters, or by cruising on kayak, you definitely needed special gear to get around parts of New Castle County on Thursday.
Miranda St. Pierre says, "It was just like a monsoon to me. Even during Hurricane Sandy, I didn't have flooding in my basement with Hurricane Sandy. And with this, it was."
Andrea David adds, "A whole bunch of my clothes got ruined with mud and dirt."
And on Airport Road, flooding will mean costly repairs to businesses.
Laurie Hess of Able Recycling says, "There's at least three feet of water in the office. The walls get moldy, got to clean it out. The carpet needs to be replaced."
But first, the water needs to recede.
Denis Woltemate of Woltemate Lawn Care says, "There's some equipment that's underwater, there are some lawnmowers and stuff like that that's submerged."
A similar sight is around the corner on Meadow Road.
The Red Cross is helping seven people here who had to leave their homes this morning.
Jeri Kaliniwski says, "It was like, come on, let's go, we got to get dressed, get sneakers on, the boat's waiting you know."
That boat and crews are from the Minquas Fire Company.
They started rescuing people at noon yesterday.
Daryl Haines, a Minquas Firefighter says, "Vehicles in high water or vehicles stranded, people stuck in their houses."
And in their 18th storm-related call, a man was on the roof of his car stranded in high water.
Yet another driver who ignored the signs and took a chance.
Bill Burkle says, "The road said it was closed, but I have a big SUV. So, I thought it's only a couple of feet of water, I can get through. I didn't see any other way to get there. It's right there and I don't want to be late. And the next thing you know is I'm swimming."
