Frenchtown Floods of 2004 & 2005
September 18-21, 2004
April 2-4, 2005
Old Frenchtown Bridge Photos can be seen at the Frenchtown Cafe on Bridge Street.
Frenchtown.com reports:
Last September, Frenchtown suffered the worst Delaware River Flood since 1955. (See story of September Flood)
During the first weekend in April of 2005, it happened again…
We were away during this flood, and returned a week after the incident, so the photos we will be posting have been supplied by folks who were here on scene with their cameras.
Occassional flooding is a fact of life in any river town, and Frenchtown is no exception. Pertinent years are 1905, 1955, 1996, 2004 and 2005. Here are some interesting photos of the damage done to our bridge during the 1905 flood..
The Frenchtown Bridge at Flood Stage Plus – 6:00 am Wednesday April 6, 2005 all recent, color photos on this page by J.Boriek Come back and see more of Joel’s recent flood photos to be added to these pages.
To see comparisons of the river height of last September’s flood and where it normally is, see Kathleen Connally‘s bridge photo and our own photo from the September Flood.
photo by Joel & Carol
Here’s the Nishisakawick Bridge on Route 29, Monday, April 4. Looking north towards Frenchtown. This bridge is 100 yards from the river and the flooding extends another 100 yards to the east. Frenchtown was cut off from Route 29 to the south.
Note the canoe ready to go into service if needed. Dave Apgar did paddle around this area in a canoe in September. Watch for photos from Dave & Jen coming soon.. photo by Joel & Carol
The flooding was so severe, that it filled Trenton Ave (State Highway 29) from the Nishisackawick Bridge almost into Bridge Street in Downtown.
As it was, the Post Office was flooded, as were the buildings nearby.
Last time, the Post Office was spared. This time, operations moved to Milford and the Post Office was replaced by a Mobile Unit…
Webmaster’s disclaimer for the record:
Frenchtown is no more flood prone than any other Delware River town. In fact, we do suffer from flooding far less than some other communities along the Delaware, and the reason for publishing this information is not to scare folks away from Frenchtown as a place to visit or to live, but to give as complete a picture of events in our town as we can.
The floods of Sept 2004 & April 2005 were noteworthy events, and very dramatic. The floods impacted many of my own friends who live lower in town and closer the river. In September, Mike’s rear deck floated away into his neighbor’s yard. This time, everything the entire first floor ofhis house was ruined. In September, Dave enjoyed the novelty of canoeing around his house. In April, he was made homeless…
In the September flood, Paul lost part of his house. But he got right to work on rebuilding the addition with an eye towards possible future floods. Due to his forsight, by the time of the April flood, the home had been repaired and withstood the flood without further damage. But this time, a classic car he was hoping to restore got flipped over by the force of the rushing water.
These floods were the most dramatic events of the year and should be documented for the future…