SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU)— That heavy rain earlier led to some serious flooding throughout Scranton.
While many of the areas have since drained, the damage the water has caused is irreversible.
28/22's Avery Nape was there for much of the afternoon and has the latest.
Anyone who's familiar with Scranton knows there are a lot of hills, and with those hills come low-lying areas that are prone to flooding.
And for people living in those areas, heavy rains can be an issue.
"I've never seen anything like this before in my life," commented Arielle Vanhuis, Scranton.
Arielle Vanhuis moved to Scranton from Michigan only three months ago.
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Her neighbors along Phelps Street in Scranton say the area is prone to flooding at least once a year, but being so new to the area, Arielle had no idea.
"I woke up trying to get my boyfriend to work and we come out to the car, and we're like 'oh, the car's dirty' and we open the car and just flooded. I fell in the mud there was so much water coming out of the car," explained Vanhuis.
"The car would not start, and I opened my hood and my whole engine bay is flooded. There's cigarette butts in my engine bay," exclaimed Vanhuis.
Her car wasn't the only one. The water line-visible on the side of a school van.
At least two other cars were towed from the street as we arrived on scene. Vanhuis says she and other neighbors came out with trash bags to clear the blocked storm drains.
Just a couple miles down the road, an SUV, got stuck under the train trestle on Olive Street.
Witnesses say a woman drove into the water, likely not knowing how deep it was. She made it out but they say she was taken to a hospital.
Another stop at the 1300 block of Penn Avenue, a different SUV also tried to navigate the flooded road, and ended up disabled. Neighbors say this area floods regularly and has for at least 70 years.
"It's been like this ever since we were little children. We used to play in this when we were kids, and it never got any better. They came, they fixed it, and this is what we still got," recalled Johanna Jones, Scranton.
Jones says a sewer line running under her home was replaced by the city last year. That replacement helped keep their basement from flooding, but not the street and that doesn't keep her from worrying when the rain comes.
"I just don't want it to keep flooding like this. I never know if it's gonna come back inside," wondered Jones.
We reached out to Scranton's Emergency Management Agency for comment on the flooding and storm water infrastructure in Scranton, but did not get a response back.
