End of railroad? .. This probably means the end of this railroad, one resident said. It looks like it would take millions of dollars to repair it. They were only running trains over it twice a week as it was. The flood saved much of its fury for Aston and other areas downstream. The trailer park in Astons Beechwood area suffered a horrible blow, as did many homes, Retaining walls along the creek were battered down, •damage that was most noticeable in what they call the West Branch area. It was here that the parked automobile of John Kelly, son of former Aston Police Chief Charles Kelly, was picked up and tumbled all the way to Convent Bridge. Water and mud virtually wrecked the inside of the Container Research Corp. Plant, which sits on the site of th former Yorkshire Mills. Mud was three feet deep afte an 8-foot-high wall of wate smashed through the plan Office furniture floated ou windows. . , A good $150;000 worth o containersifloated out of here, president Stanley. E. Riries said Our computers are a complet loss. About $100,000 worth o aluminum is ruined. ,. Rines, whose plant employ 275, said a million dollars wort! of valuable equipment wa under water, • Much of it hai been ruined. One .machine, used to cut coil of aluminum and steel, wa valued at $100,000. Flextron Industries, Inc.r par of Container Research Corp. also suffered heavy losses. Containers gone I saw $50,000 worth of je airplane engine containers from ?lextron go down the creek, Rines said. We had/a: call from someone at Medfords in Chester saying our containers had been seei loating in .the creek in tha area. Riries said flood waters rose 4 feet in 10 minutes at his plant For a long time the water •pse only 6 to 8 inches or so, he said. At one point, the wate; actually receded,, and we bought we -had it/made. Then )ang, it rose about 4 feet. The plant had its drama, too. We had five 7,000 pound, 25 oot long nuclear fuel cell c o n t a i n e r s for atomic submarines which we rode like broncos to keep from floating out of the building, Rines said. Using half of a Sikorskj lelicopter roto hub containers as i boat, Rines said Pau Jartholomew and G e o r g e Dargay lassoed the floating containers and lashed them to columns of the building. The empty steel monsters night have .been frighetning hings floating down the creek and they could . have caused considerable damage in stribin bridges and homes We certainly didnt want to see them washing away,; Rines emphasized. . , ; Rines said the velocity of the loodwaters as they sped pas us plant had been estimated at 55 to 60 miles an hour. Mai ny people .agreed. Another scare On the east, or main, branch if Chester Creek, residents ... he Lenni ,Road Bridge area got nother flood scare eight days Seeing she was rapped she got up on the bridge railing, Vhen Holland Dam jroke a great swirl of water just carried ter away. ater as the Lenni Dam broke, he inuddy waters rose again ut subsided before doing any ppreciable damage. This area had been hit hard y the initial flooding. Alfred Martins 11-room stone ome next to the creek at 95 enni Road, Chester Heights, ras a depressing sight. Martin, a Philadelphia Elec- •ic Co. employe who is also n antique dealer at Booths orner, Bethel, had his first oor jammed with antiques. Im an antique man, he aid. Thats what hurt me. Old oil and gun collections, 15 antique wall, clocks, 11 antique plates, a China cabinet for whic I vhad been offered $1,000 an a number of valuable antiqu dining room pieces - they a washed away or were riiined, The best stuff I had wa here, he said. -Westlake Plastics Co;, wher the-Victoria Plush Mills: one flourished, stands a b o v Martins home. It suffere considerable damage. Across Lenni Road in Astoi a brick building of the old Aldo Rug Mills No. 1 plant was s many bricks on the ground simply demolished. At Convent Bridge The tragedy at Conven Bridge, in which Mrs. Delore E. Snyder. 44, Convent--Road I saw trees 5 foot in diameter ramming our bridge. Anything in their path tvas gone. They took out our bridge. It looked like the Delaware River. Aston, was swept to her death shook a lot of people. James Cimabue, of 1 Conven Road, one of four men who trie* desperately to reach her, sai Mrs. Snydr stood terrified fo more than three hours on railing in the -center of tht :Mrs. Snyder he said ha ;ried to drive across the bridg, rom the Rockdale side but tha her automobile stalled. She got it started again, ie said, but then the ca stalled on the other side of tin bridge. Seeing she was trappei she got up on the bridge railing When Hollow Dam broke a grea swirl of water just carried he; away. The Hood had claimed iti ifth victim. .The floodwaters raced . down the valley,along Mount Road »ouging banks and building up layers of sand and stone in sue! a manner that, in the word, of Charles (Butch); Ahrens o he building materials family It looked like the Gram Canyon. Indeed it did. •< ••• The Pennell Road Bridge wa leavily damaged. Tractor picked up At DAngelos Trenching and lonstruction Co., Mount and ennell Roads, a 10-whee lighway tractor was picked up ind moved 200 feet. A 20-ton crane was overturned and a dump truck shoved acros ennell Road. A frame garage disappeared nd so did a cement block garage and its cement floor. There is no sign of them,1 aid Anthony DAngelo, who i partner in the firm with h frother , Joseph. Weve found arts of concrete here and there - but nothing here, John Bubell came across the ridge at Pennell Road, lugging a big acid bottle from his Hollow iill building which he had etrieved down the creek. Im down but not out, he aid. • Pennell Road in the vicinity f Charles Ahrens and Sons resented an almost unbelievble scene. The woods were full f lumber that had floated away rom Ahrens. Sheets of plastic hung from rees. You could also see abinets, doors and window rames, even bags of peat moss, fame your building material nd it was there.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 11:37:34 +0000