Phoenixville Foodie Getting Meals Out After Ida Dumps On Chesco

PHOENIXVILLE, PA — Phoenixville was among the hard-hit areas in Wednesday's flooding across the Mid-Atlantic, and its residents are already coming together to help each other.

As Hurricane Ida weakened and tracked northeast, Chester County was in its path and got more than a month's worth of rain dumped on its towns, fields, and waterways on Wednesday into Thursday. Schools and roads were shut down and emergency crews were out through the night and into the next day.

Phoenixville Mayor Peter Urscheler said French Creek is flooding in the Phoenixville area and urged residents to stay out of standing water, especially near the French Creek or other rivers. "Not only can there be issues with electric but the currents are moving much faster than they appear," Urscheler said in a social media post to the community.

The Point at Phoenixville Riverworks apartment complex is nearby French Creek and residents awoke to a flooded parking lot, some of their vehicles almost completely underwater.

Phoenixville Fire Department said by late morning the river had slowly begun to recede.

Wednesday's storm dumped more than a month's worth of rain in a day. In the whole month of August, 6.81 inches of rain fell on the Philadelphia area, according to the NWS. Chester County's rainfall totals ranged from 7-9 inches in Wednesday's storm in reports. Average monthly rainfall in this area is usually even less than 6 inches, often under 4 inches depending on the season, according to NWS documents.

Richard Rotondo, of Phoenixville, took this drone video of flooding in the Borough.

Urscheler told residents, "Please be careful out there. I know each of you is dealing with a variety of issues caused by the flooding, please use this guide for information on flood recovery.

"My heart is with (you), like all things we will work together to get through this," the Mayor said. He directed residents to the Phoenixville Office of Emergency Management page for updates on road closures in town.

Phoenixville Foodie Organizing Help

Ali Kauffman, of Phoenixville, is gathering a group of volunteers and restaurants ready to prepare hot meals for residents and for first responders affected by the flooding.

"If you or anyone you know could use one of these meals today, please DM me and I’ll coordinate getting it to you or your group. Or any leads of local shelters that could use meals, please let me know!" she said in a social media post. She said by midday Thursday she'd already been contacted by some people in need.

Kauffman said she can be contacted on Instagram at Phoenixville Foodie.

Across Chester County, West Chester University canceled all in-person classes for Thursday. Chester County Government offices, facilities, and courts are also closed. School districts across Chester County are closed.

Coatesville was hit very hard, as floodwaters rose to third-story attic windows and residents were evacuated to shelters set up quickly in school buildings.

In southern Chester County, Brandywine Creek crested at over 19 feet, passing Wednesday forecast of 17 feet, and marking the highest waters it's seen in the last 100 years. One report measured the Creek at over 21 feet. U.S. 1 through the Chadds Ford area closed on Wednesday as rains deluged the area. Read that full story here.

PECO reported more than 200 outages around Chester County on Thursday morning — less than 5 percent of customers — but said more reports were coming in. PECO alerted residents not to move trees or debris because of the danger. "Do not touch or move downed wires and consider all downed wires as energized and extremely dangerous. Due to an increase in outage reports, the outage map may be slow to provide the latest updates," PECO's message said.

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