PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Heavy overnight rains caused flooding across the Philadelphia area, closing a flood-prone section of Kelly Drive and causing a major traffic headache for travelers.
The National Weather Service says areas north and west of the I-95 corridor were hit particularly hard with some areas seeing 3 inches of rain in a relatively short amount of time.
“With the already saturated grounds from the rainfall over the past couple of weeks, our grounds are very well saturated so we had very high runoff rates,” explained NWS meteorologist Joe DeSilva.
Drivers headed out of Center City along Kelly Drive were forced to turn onto North Ferry Road into East Falls because of the Schuylkill River flooding.
On the other side, drivers along Kelly Drive headed into Center City were turned off at Midvale Avenue into East Falls. While that's a small stretch of road, it created big congestion in the area.
The river raged into the afternoon with debris like logs and branches swiftly passing by, while geese swam about, apparently unbothered by the conditions.
According to the NWS, the Schuylkill River near Center City will crest by late afternoon. High river levels will likely recede following the crest.