Flooding in Southwest Philadelphia's Lower Darby Creek area brings fear of contamination

When Tropical Storm Isaias whipped through Philadelphia last week, water flooded low-lying areas and displaced more than 300 people in the region. The Eastwick neighborhood of Southwest Philadelphia - located on the banks of Cobbs Creek and Darby Creek near the Philadelphia International Airport - was one of the hardest hit in the city. Residents say it was the worst flood since Hurricane Floyd more than 20 years ago. But for this neighborhood, concerns run deeper than flooding alone: It is also the site of a landfill that left toxic, cancer-causing soil under homes and residential properties. In 2001, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency declared the area one of the nation’s most contaminated Superfund sites, in need of a massive cleanup. Today, the EPA has cleaned up soil around nearly 400 homes, but the effort to remediate has been delayed by COVID-19 restrictions. Recent flooding has raised questions for residents of whether cancer-causing toxins have been exposed once again.

Fear of contamination looms after floods in Southwest Philadelphia