Tropical Storm Lee cut a powerful and peculiar path across Philly region

Fort Washington, bedeviled by renegade tributaries of the Sandy Run Creek, has long been one of the region's most flood-prone areas.

Yet even by the standards of flood veterans in that Montgomery County community, this has been an impressive week.

"We don't get flooding like this very often," said Gary Gresh, who spent the week helping his 86-year-old father battle the floodwaters lapping along Fort Washington Avenue and seeping into basements.

On Friday his was one of countless neighborhoods throughout the region mopping up from the monumental siege of rain. More than 25 inches has fallen since Aug. 1 - emphatically topped off by the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee.

Amazingly, the sun actually came out for a while Friday, and no more significant precipitation is in the forecast, although a heavy shower is possible Saturday. The Delaware River and Schuylkill are retreating, and the jumpier smaller streams are behaving.

But flood warnings remained in effect into early Saturday for Philadelphia, Delaware, Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester Counties. And the cumulative effects of the rains continued to bedevil commuters and homeowners.

The waters have shut off some of the area's most heavily traveled roads, with closures expected to persist into the weekend.

As of late Friday, Kelly Drive remained closed between Midvale Avenue and 25th Street, and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation plans to block off the Schuylkill Expressway's Girard Avenue on-ramp at 7 a.m. Saturday to repair storm damage.

In Newtown Township, Delaware County, Route 252 was closed between West Chester Pike and Media Line Road because of a collapsed drainage pipe. Big stretches of Route 32 in Bucks County were closed, as were portions of 724 in North and East Coventry, Chester County.

While the rivers were calming down, the water levels remained quite high.

Looking over the closed Mont Clare Bridge in Phoenixville, Chester County, Phoenixville Police Lt. Tom Sjostrom pointed out a treetop in the rushing water. "That is on an island," he said.

When flooding rendered the bridge unusable, it presented a problem for Sarah Etzler, owner of Eagle's Nest Deli. The bridge is used by many of her customers.

"Friday is a good day, the busiest day," she said. But approaching the lunch rush, no hungry clients were waiting to be served.

She was philosophical, and mused that others had far more serious storm issues.

"What can you do? It is Mother Nature," Etzler said.

Despite the widespread extreme rainfall totals, Lee was capricious, targeting its ferocity on certain areas, sparing others.

In Delaware County, Lee had a particular pick on Haverford and Upper Darby Townships, said Ed Truitt, the county's emergency director. Areas hit hard by Irene's rains on Aug. 27 and 28 were spared by Lee, and vice versa.

"It's like God's trying to even it out or something," said Truitt.

That erratic behavior also was evident in Montgomery County, said Paul Leonard, Upper Dublin township manager. Parts of the township were particularly hard hit by the latest round of rains, and he said it was as bad as anything he had seen in his 15 years on the job, including Hurricane Floyd in 1999.

Martin J. Gresh, Gary Gresh's father, said Lee may have been the worst storm he has experienced in the 53 years he has lived on Fort Washington Avenue. It certainly beat its immediate predecessor.

"Tropical Storm Lee was much more significant than Irene," said Leonard, still wearing his orange-and-yellow emergency vest. In the township streets, he said, "we had water running at high speed with standing waves."

On Friday, Gregory R. Breyer, Upper Dublin's director of fire services, was conducting damage assessments and scouring the streets for downed wires, a particular hazard after a storm.

The township was distributing white buckets with cleanup kits, supplied by the Salvation Army, that included mop heads, brushes, squeegees, bottles of Pine Sol, bleach, dust masks, and blue work gloves.

Sump pumps were running along Fort Washington Avenue. Gresh said he had one operating throughout the storm at his father's house.

Not that it did much good; the basement still filled up with three feet of water. "It was like putting a fire hose in a bathtub," he said.

The incredible rain totals notwithstanding - more than seven inches at the township building - Leonard offered five words that captured a popular sentiment across the region:

"It could have been worse."