With some 25 inches of rain falling in the Delaware Valley region over the past month, much of the area has been hard hit by major flooding. This record rain fall created perfect flood conditions, says Jeffrey Featherstone, director of the Center for Sustainable Communities at Temple. "The ground is saturated and whenever it rains it's converted into runoff in our streams." He says that what used to be farm land and open space has been developed and covered with concrete, so instead of water being absorbed into the ground, rain just causes more runoff.