Escape from Gloucester City

South Broadway looking north with minor flooding
@jerzgirl (9384)
United States
February 11, 2016 8:23pm CST
On Monday, we began having snow that was expected to accumulate possibly 3". In the country, that's hardly anything. But, in an area with multiple millions of people, many driving on Interstate Highways, usually at reckless speeds, that kind of thing can cause major problems. My daughter, who now works in Delaware where I continue to drive her to and from daily, contacted me around 3:30 to tell me they were being let out early because of the snow, so please come down. It takes about 40 minutes to get there. I expected it to take a little longer than that because of the snow. Our town has only five ways in or out. We are bordered on three sides by water - one side entirely by the Delaware River. I knew that north Broadway was closed because of a bridge rebuild, but I was headed south, so I didn't worry. Well, south Broadway was closed, too. They had two Fire Police vehicles blocking anyone from heading that way. I didn't even know our county HAD Fire Police. I turned to go down Market instead. Unfortunately, so did everyone else. Market was backed up from Rt 130 to Broadway (about a mile), so I cut through the houses and decided to go out Klemm instead. There weren't as many there, but others had chosen to do the same thing. I finally got out after three light changes and headed south on Rt 130 which joins Rt 295 and leads right to the Delaware Memorial Bridge. But, by the time I got to Brooklawn, traffic had almost stopped. What the heck was going on?? I decided to cut through Brooklawn's eastern portion and come out at the traffic circle bypassing the traffic entirely. I could see that the other circle that sits opposite the train trestle was flooded and that the water had reached the east side and was flowing into the diner parking lot. That's when I noticed that the only other way out of the county was also close by Fire Police!! I began to panic - how the heck was I supposed to get to Delaware to pick up my daughter if I couldn't even get out of the county after finally making it out of town? I finally went around the circle and went north on an adjacent road, called Kings Highway, in order to get to another entrance for southbound Rt 295 that was two towns over north and east. Some more cutting through neighborhoods brought me out to the Black Horse Pike a block from the freeway entrance where I began my trek to get my daughter. I didn't get to her place of employment until just after 5!! A full hour and a half after she asked me to come "now"!! Where we live doesn't flood, but the low lying areas around us do, especially during a combination of high tide and storm front. This one really messed us up. I feel bad for people driving home from work who have no idea where anything is other than the road they take to go home. I'm sure they felt totally lost! Hopefully, they just stopped at one of the many taverns, diners or pizza shops and waited it out because by the time my daughter and I returned, there was no more flooding and no more closed roads - barely over an hour later.
3 people like this
3 responses
@Morleyhunt (21741)
• Canada
12 Feb 16
My daughter and I travelled through Delaware this summer. We found the roads to be heavily congested with traffic....and this on a Sunday.
1 person likes this
@jerzgirl (9384)
• United States
12 Feb 16
We live 35 miles north of New Castle, directly across from Philadelphia, so you can imagine!
1 person likes this
@kamel622 (310)
• United States
12 Feb 16
It's good you know alternate routes but it had to be so frustrating have your drive take twice as long as usual. I'm glad you made it home safely.
1 person likes this
@jerzgirl (9384)
• United States
12 Feb 16
First time I've seen anything like it! But, it was a surprise that it was all gone by the time we got back.
1 person likes this
@amnabas (14877)
• Karachi, Pakistan
12 Feb 16
Sometimes your journey get prolong due to roads blockage and it's disgusting.
1 person likes this
@jerzgirl (9384)
• United States
12 Feb 16
It definitely can be depending on the reason for the flooding.