Photo Tom Sofield. New Hope Free Press
On Friday April 5th a fisherman discovered the body of a man in the river near the Marine Terminal off Lamberton Street. It was identified at 76 year -old Jeffrey Defrehn from Ringoes. It was on March 5th that Defrehn jumped from the Route 202 bridge into the Delaware River just north of New-Hope and Lambertville.
Over the last month rains brought the river up to over 65,000 cfs. The distance between the Route 202 bridge and Lamberton Street is 17 miles. It always amazes me what the force of water can do and cause to travel downstream. In between there are so many islands and banks and now docks. I am glad for the family the body was recovered. Sad story. RIP Jeffrey.
It was last July when heavy rains caused flash flooding across from my house on the PA side in Upper Wakefield. Five people lost their lives. One, a 9-month old has never been found, and his sister, 2 years old, was found 37 miles down river in Philadelphia. Their family who were visiting from South Carolina at the time were in Buck's County for a family barbecue when the rains over took them when a small, usual trickle of a creek, over flowed. I hope one day the remains of the young child may be found for the family can have some closure.
The Delaware River is a mighty river at times. I need to remember these stories, like the one from last week, and maintain respect and caution. No fish is worth a life.