WEST MARLBOROUGH: Over its banks

Springdell residents won't soon forget the dramatic flooding on the evening of Sunday, July 22, when the Doe Run abruptly overflowed its banks, closed Route 841 and stranded two dozen motorists at the Whip Tavern. Township old-timers say the creek has never flooded so quickly and severely.
As soon as I heard all the sirens and saw "water rescue" on my emergency services app, I went flood-chasing. A dozen emergency vehicles were already on the scene in Springdell, and I saw an orange rescue raft in operation at the intersection of Route 841 and Thouron Road. I've never before seen emergency vehicles trying to negotiate tiny, unpaved Hicks Road.
West Marlborough Township road crew member Hugh Lofting was having dinner at Bangkok House in Wilmington when "my phone just exploded." He immediately drove to the township building to help in the effort and ended up rescuing seven people in the bucket of a front-end loader.
I shot a 10-second video of roaring, fast-moving water flowing across Thouron Road and posted it online. (A friend told me that CBS3 ran it on their evening news show and credited me.)
The next day, remarkably, everything was pretty much back to normal, although fences were full of debris and a lot of trees were at odd angles. The roads and fields that had been covered in water were drying up. I saw one poor Mini Cooper still sitting in a ditch at Wilson Road and Route 82.

Water flows across Thouron Road just south of Route 841, July 22.