In N. Philly, a collapse, then looting

Flooding and power outages are top concerns for many people across the area. But in one North Philadelphia neighborhood the collapse of a building into a pile of rubble has residents all abuzz.

Sherri McGee lives a few houses away from a building at 11th and Huntingdon streets that collapsed this morning under Irene’s soggy weight:

“I heard the boom and then I came our and I seen everything just down – the whole store was down.”

A Chinese restaurant was on the buildings first floor. No one was hurt.

But James Chestnut lost the trailers and other vehicles he stored there: ‘Used to be a 1969 19-foot Globetrotter. I can’t even see it. Or maybe that’s it up against the wall. And underneath the rubble there’s an ’81 F-150, and over here there’s an ’88 Dodge Ram.”

Others in the crowd came for a different reason: Scrappers loaded a shopping cart with metal and about a dozen people – mostly young men – took soda, candy, and other supplies from the restaurant wreckage.

A few adults told the looters to stop. Eventually, by mid-morning, police and fire pulled up to put an end to the looting.

Mayor Nutter said at a Sunday morning news conference that his office had received reports of a total of seven building collapses in the city due to the storm.