Vehicles stuck in New Jersey flash flood

CHERRY HILL, N.J. (WTXF) - The heavy rain Monday morning caused a lot of issues on the roads.

Drains couldn't handle the amount of water and debris coming in, causing major flooding on the roads and bad judgement calls from drivers.

"Kinda crazy. A little bit. But, it is what it is," said Rich DiTomaso.

The day was a mess.

"That's horrible, that looks like no fun," said Mariah DeMirkan.

A day long nightmare for the drivers in the Cherry Hill.

"I don't know if they swam. I don't know what they did," DiTomaso said.

They all ran for higher ground after misjudging how deep the water already was along Route 38 and how fast the road and their cars were filling up as it dips under the railroad bridge near Kenilworth.

And, the traffic backed up.

"Substantial problem, over an hour," said DiTomaso. "These streets don't go through on this side and nobody can get through on that side and they had to do some creative maneuvering to get around," DiTomaso explained.

Drains clogged up with all kinds of debris, which forced officials to bring in more equipment to clear the highway before the next rush hour.

New Jersey Department of Transportation officials pumped the storm water into a nearby creek.

The occupants of a red van out of New York didn't want to talk, but they did roll up in a rented van to salvage what they could before the tow trucks moved in.