'I was at the mercy of the water': Survivor recalls losing wife in floods along Delaware

From inside the car, all Dave Love could see was water.

In mere seconds, the powerful menace had risen to the top of the driver’s side window and was coming through the floorboards.

“We need to get out of this car now,” Dave said to his wife.

In the weeks that followed, he would replay that day over and over again in his mind, wondering what might’ve been had the couple simply carried out their usual Saturday shopping routine.

“I’m constantly reliving it, thinking about what we could’ve done differently,” he said, recalling the fateful July evening when flash floods ripped through a section of Upper Makefield near Houghs Creek, taking with it seven lives, including his wife of 32 years, Yuko Love.

Just rain on a normal day for Dave and Yuko Love

The day started out like so many others before.

Yuko went to the gym, later returning to her Newtown Township home, before heading off with Dave to hit up their usual stops in Princeton, which included Maruichi Japanese Food & Deli, Whole Foods and Wegmans, and a plan to visit Colonial Farms in Washington Crossing on their way home.

“She really loved food. It was very important to her,” Dave said, as he sat in his kitchen, recalling the Japanese meals Yuko would lovingly cook, like Shabu-Shabu, a hotpot dish he would help her with by grinding up sesame seeds while she prepared the rest of the ingredients.

Once they finished up in Princeton, they travelled along their regular route, taking I-295 to 29 North along the New Jersey side of the Delaware River.

It had been raining on and off that afternoon, but during their drive, Dave suggested they grab some water ice if it dried up when they got back to Newtown. But by the time they made it over the Washington Crossing Bridge and came to a stop at the light at Taylorsville Road in Upper Makefield, the weather had worsened.

Torrential downpours batter Upper Makefield

With the rain beating down hard on their windshield, they decided to skip Colonial Farms and instead continued north on Route 532, taking them off their normal path.

Further up the road, with four or five cars ahead of them, traffic came to a halt on Washington Crossing Road, near Stonebridge Road.

“I thought they were just pausing because they were worried about hydroplaning and were going to crawl through,” Dave said.

But after several minutes of waiting, he decided to turn around and go back down the way they came. With cars stopped all around them, it seemed his only option was to reverse down the hill, slowly navigating around the other motorists.

“At this point, I was feeling a little bit nervous because of how hard it was raining, but I didn’t feel any sense of impending danger,” he recalled.

But as Dave carefully maneuvered down the road, Yuko’s eyes remained fixed uphill, catching the moment two motorcyclists, who they had passed just moments earlier, were pulled into the water.

That’s when Dave saw the rush of water crashing towards them down the hill.

“I’m watching what looked like a wave of water coming down, and when it hit us, I realized we weren’t on the ground anymore," he said. "We were floating.”

The floodwaters had picked up their dark blue Tesla, rotating it to the right, pushing them downhill, until it collided with another vehicle.

More on the fatal flash flood: How the Upper Makefield flooding happened: A timeline of tragedy

More: Remembering the seven lives lost in July 15, 2023 Upper Makefield fatal flood

Together, the two cars created a damming effect, causing the water to build up on one side.

Dave climbed over the center console, quickly escaping behind Yuko through the passenger side door, as the car started filling up with water.

“I didn’t feel like I was in a panic though. The car was history, and all the groceries, too, but we just thought we needed to get down the hill and we’d be OK,” he said.

That calmness instantly gave way to desperation though. They noticed more cars careening down the hill heading straight for them. The couple attempted to make their way to the edge of the road, but Yuko lost her footing.

Dave wrapped his arms around his wife, helping Yuko to her feet, just as the two were slammed by a wall of water — its sheer force ripping them apart from one another.

It was the last time he’d ever see her.

Their ‘Love’ story was a blend of two worlds

Yuko and Dave first met at Allegheny College, two young students in choir together. But it would be another nine years before their love story would begin.

Soon after graduation, Yuko, a Japanese citizen, went back home to her family in Tokyo.

Dave didn’t see Yuko again until she returned to the U.S. for their choir reunion in 1989. They shared an undeniable connection that would pull Dave to Japan where the two fell in love. By 1991, they were married.

Sitting in his kitchen, more than 40 years after meeting Yuko and just 25 days after losing her, Dave struggled to find the right words to describe their bond.

“We just blended well together. I never gave it much thought. It just worked,” he said.

The couple spent much of their time together, side by side exploring new foods, scuba diving, travelling to different places, making one another laugh and seeing how many Broadway shows they could fit into a single year.

She introduced him to new things — foods, hobbies and adventures he wouldn’t have otherwise tried without her.

“I was openminded, and she enjoyed that. When she wanted to do something, I was willing to try it. We ended up doing everything together because of this,” he said.

More on the fatal flash flood: As community gathers for Upper Makefield flood vigil, organizers talk of miracles

They also created a loving home. A place where they poured that love into their golden retrievers. A space where each of their upbringings and customs became one.

“We just tried to blend the best of both cultures,” Dave said, glancing over to his shoes left by the side door, a small, but significant reminder of the respect they had for one another.

On a windowsill, a single blue rose sat in a narrow glass vase. It was the last token of all the bouquets he had given Yuko over the years, always made up of blue roses, his own special tradition created just for her.

Nearing retirement, the couple had big plans. They were going to live in Tokyo. They would travel the world.

“We were getting ready for what was supposed to be the best part of our lives,” he said. “But she was robbed of that.”

Swept away by the powerful flash floods near the Delaware River

The wave came without warning July 15, knocking Dave’s legs up from underneath him, sweeping him under the guardrail and away from Yuko.

He was pulled underwater, getting hit on all sides, pelted by sticks, other debris and gravel, slamming into anything that got in the way. The powerful torrent was more than he could take, disorienting him, eroding away his will to survive.

“I had this feeling of resignation. I remember thinking, 'I’m just tired. I can’t fight anymore,'” Dave recalled. “I felt like I was going feet first through an underground cave, and I thought, ‘I’m going to die.’”

As the current continued dragging him along, he felt a renewed surge of strength, built on his fear of drowning. Not sure which way was up, Dave frantically scrambled towards what he hoped was the surface.

Getting to the top felt like a losing battle, as the water continued pulling him under.

He reached for low-hanging branches, only to have them slip through his fingers. He grabbed for trees, but each chance was stolen when he collided with their large trunks, knocking the wind right out of him.

“I was at the mercy of the water the whole time. I had no control. I went wherever it wanted to send me,” he said.

Finally, he found a tree small enough to hang onto, working his way behind it to protect himself from the force of the debris and chest-high water that continued to charge its way down the steep wooded hill.

At one point, he saw a woman float by, who he would later learn was Dahlia Galindez, of Charleston, South Carolina. She too would survive, but lose her daughter and two grandchildren in the devastating floods.

As he clung to the tree, he looked around for Yuko, but she was nowhere in sight.

“I thought she must be dead because she would’ve never survived the beating I just went through,” he said.

From the 11 cars traveling along Route 532 when the floods hit, Dave was among the 10 people who were rescued, officials said.

He was hospitalized at nearby St. Mary Medical Center for a week where he underwent surgery for a broken arm and wrist and was treated for several cuts, abrasions and bruises across his entire body, including a laceration to the head.

Three victims were found later that night: Katie Seley, 32; Susan Barnhart, 53 and Enzo DePiero, 78.

Yuko’s body was recovered the next day, found in the area of Houghs Creek south of Route 532 about 100 yards away from another victim 74-year-old Linda DePiero, of Newtown, who was found a short time earlier.

In the days that followed, the search would continue for Seley’s children, Conrad Sheils, 9-months-old, and his sister, Mattie, 2. The children slipped from the arms of their mother and grandmother who were also swept into the flood.

Mattie’s remains were found days later in the Delaware River, just south of the Betsy Ross Bridge. Five days after she was found, the exhaustive search for baby Conrad was suspended. At the month anniversary, he has yet to be found.

Their grandmother, Galindez, survived and was treated for minor injuries, officials said. Rescuers pulled Seley’s fiancé, Jim Sheils, and their 4-year-old son, Jack, from the waters.

“It all happened so quickly,” Dave said, his voice catching as he recalled the catastrophic events that devastated his family and others in just a matter of minutes.

“All of our worlds were turned upside down.”

Closer look at the Seley-Sheils family: South Carolina family torn apart by Upper Makefield fatal floods identified

Remembering the DePieros: They spent more than 40 years together. The fatal flooding took their lives

Who was Susan Barnhart: Titusville resident killed in Upper Makefield flooding known to always lend a helping hand

More on Yuko Love: Before the fatal floods took her life, Yuko Love was known for her kind, loving spirit

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Upper Makefield flood survivor recalls the tragic day he lost his wife