STORM CAUSES MAJOR DAMAGE
Flooding, downed trees, missing roofs reported
Residents of Pottstown and surrounding areas began cleaning up Saturday after a severe storm Friday night delivered high winds and heavy rain, leaving flooding and damaged buildings in its wake.
The gusty winds from the storm, which have not yet been declared a tornado by the National Weather Service, downed trees throughout the area and tore part of the roof off the Yorkshire Apartments building at the intersection of North York Street and Reynolds Avenue.
“I saw flames and sparks
were so bad, we thought the building was going to catch on fire,” said Joyce Foster,” who has lived on the second floor of the building for five years and whose window is across from the power lines the roof section tore down, knocking out power to the neighborhood.
Resident Todd Booth said “we got the warning on our phones and almost immediately, the stuff on my balcony began banging against the glass door. I looked out and saw something twirling and my wife told me to close the door and get away.”
Deborah Iwanowicz, who lives on the building’s third floor, said “water began pouring down into my bathroom and my closet. It ruined all my clothes. It was scary.”
At least one water rescue was reported in Pottstown Friday night after an elderly driver got caught in rising waters on East High Street near Roland Street.
The 86-year-old woman was in her car when heavy rains caused the area to flood. She was helped to safety by firefighters from Goodwill Rescue and the Pottstown Fire Department.
Residents also reported significant flooding on the 600 block of Chestnut Street, the Bright Hope
Community, along Pine Forge Road and along Route 100 in Bechtelsville to name just a few.
Marissa Deabler, owner of Route 100 Euros car repair shop in Bechtelsville, said on Facebook “we have been dealing with four floods in two years. Three of those floods were within the past three months.”
In addition to flooding, power outages were also reported.
Numerous trees were knocked down in Pottstown’s North End neighborhood, blocking Wilson Street and hitting a house on North Franklin Street.
A tree came down on the 300 block of West Beech Street in the Pottsgrove Manor neighborhood during Friday’s storm.
Barry Davis said it hit the power lines, which may have kept it from damaging his neighbor’s car too badly.
“I looked out the window at that rain, I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Davis, who was without power for 14 hours.
According to a PECO outage map of the Pottstown area, there were still several outages affecting varying numbers of customers Saturday morning.
In some places only a few customers were affected, according to PECO and in others, closer to 100 customers lost power.
Outages were reported near Wilson Street between North Franklin and North Washington streets affecting about 164 customers.
Power is estimated to be restored in those areas by around 4 p.m. Saturday, according to PECO’s outage map.
Another outage affecting about 84 customers was reported between Hale Street and North Warren Street. There is currently no estimation available for power restoration in that area.
Other outages in the area affecting smaller numbers of customers including on North Hanover Street and North Keim Street are expected to have power restored by Saturday evening, according to the PECO outage map.
Friday night’s high winds also damaged some buildings.
Residents have also reported multiple down trees and wires throughout the borough, including one incident on West Beech Street. A large tree appears to have fallen toward the street and onto some wires and residents reported power loss since 10:40 p.m. Friday.
In another instance, the winds had moved an entire shed at a Pottstown residence, turning it on its roof.
Lower Pottsgrove Police reported early Saturday morning that they were dealing with a large number of weather related incidents on Friday.
In one instance, police said a Lower Pottsgrove Police car became disabled in flood waters on North Adams Street between Lynn Drive and Wendy Drive while responding to a call.
“Due to the heavy rain, the roadway became flooded and with reduced visibility the responding officer underestimate the depth of the ponding water which quickly disabled the car. The waters continued to rise overtaking the car. The officer was able to get himself out of the car to higher ground,” read the report.
The car was towed out and remains out of service.
Lower Pottsgrove Police also noted several incidents in which trees took down wires and damaged homes. They also responded to Timber Lane for a transformer explosion and electrical fire caused by a downed tree on a house.
According to the National Weather Service, a flood warning is in effect for the area until 3:45 p.m. Saturday. The forecast calls for clear weather over the weekend with rain expected to pick back up on Monday.