Post-Hurricane Irene Recap

• Hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians, including those in the Perkiomen Valley, were without power. power outage lasted about 16 hours; others also reported being without power for a long stretch:

From Perkiomen Valley Patch’s Facebook wall

Faith Heidel Here in Graterford, we have electricity back after 8+ hrs of being out. It's amazing how much we take it for granted. We are on a well, and it's so nice to be able to flush again. LOL

Rose Marie Thees ‎14 hours without power in Trappe.

Maria Oscar Bush Was out of electricity most of Sunday in Spring Mount but all is back on, thnx PECO!!

• The bridges on Routes 113, 73, Plank Road, the Spring Mount bridge and in Collegeville were closed for most of Sunday. PECO investigated a gas leak by the Collegeville bridge Sunday.

All of the bridges, with the exception of the bridge on Route 73, are now open. Roads that remain closed include Route 73 from Plank Road to Route 29 and Graterford Road.

• Ursinus President Bobby Fong has been communicating with faculty and students via e-mail concerning Irene-related matters. His latest message reads:

“Incidents like Hurricane Irene can bring out the best in a community. At Ursinus College, we had wind damage to foliage and two trees that had to be taken down because the sodden ground couldn’t support their root systems. Otherwise, the greatest challenge on Sunday was a sixteen-hour power outage.

Because we could not know how long the outage would last, Sodexo made provisions for a sandwich buffet for brunch and a picnic grill for dinner. Residents of Main Street houses were moved to the large residence halls and to the Floy Lewis Bakes Field House because these buildings had back-up generators. Student Affairs arranged for buses to take students to a free movie night at the Oaks Cineplex. When students returned from the movies, they found that power had been restored at 11 pm. By midnight, Main Street residents were able to return to their houses.

Today, the first day of classes are being held as scheduled.

In addition to the good spirit of the students through this weekend’s adventure, I want to acknowledge the yeoman efforts of all those who labored through Sunday, especially our Student Affairs staff, with a special nod to our RA’s, DA’s, and Ambassadors; the Sodexo food service staff; the Athletics staff; Campus Safety; and especially our Facilities staff.”

Yesterday afternoon, the college announced classes would be held Monday, as scheduled, and on its Facebook page praised the fact that students were safe. The post received at least a dozen likes, but one person took exception to the comment:

Joseph Longo Students are safe? Are you talking about the ones you are kicking out of the Main Street residences because you have dead alarm backup batteries? I would have hoped you would have come up with a better plan than asking them to find a friend to stay with or go the Floy Lewis Bakes Field House.

• The was among the flood-hit spots. From Crystal Gilchrist's e-mail today: "The PWC took a direct hit from the hurricane with about 3 feet of water in the basement and Discovery Room. We will be cleaning up for few days but expect to be pretty much back to normal by Wednesday. If you want to help with the clean-up, we can use the help.  Please bring boots and gloves - our supplies are all waterlogged."

• Local fire companies put in long hours as they responded to water rescues, reported electrical fires and pumped water from flooded homes and businesses in the Perkiomen Valley.

In order to ensure personnel would be on hand to answer calls, many firefighters began to bunk up in stations before the storm hit the area.

Chief John Moran said he and some of his fellow firefighters put in an 18-hour shift while dealing with Hurricane Irene’s wrath and aftermath.

In addition to getting people out of a water-surrounded house on Rahns Road, the fire company took part in four water rescues that day. In one instance, an elderly man was driving on Haldeman Road when the floodwaters swept away his vehicle. Another man drove past the barriers on the Route 113 bridge and also had his vehicle carried away by the floodwaters. Moran said he was able to free himself from the car and clung to a tree; firefighters rescued him within 20 minutes.
Another man was swept away by the floodwaters as he stood, taking pictures, on Route 113 bridge. In yet another case, a man driving on the Grateford bridge had his vehicle overpowered by the flood. He was also able to extricate himself from the car.

Everyone was evaluated by EMS, but no one needed transport for serious injuries, Moran said.

When asked which emergency situations could have been avoided, Moran said, “all of the water rescues. People just need to heed traffic barriers and don’t cross them. … (There are) some very lucky people out there today.”

Moran had high praise for his fellow emergency responders, “Everybody did a hell of a job and worked well together.”