What Chestnut Hill and Mt. Airy looked like “The Day after Irene”

Unless you live close to one of the flooded rivers or creeks Hurricane Irene was like a nor’easter with some gusty winds. The Wissahickon Creek was an impressive sight on Sunday as it pushed over its banks and moved like a Colorado river.

One common sight throughout Chestnut Hill and Mt. Airy was neighborhood streets scattered with broken twigs. The other striking thing on the Hill was that many of the restaurants that would normally be open on Sunday were closed. 

The photos above show what Chestnut Hill and Mt. Airy looked like on Sunday. Most of the area saw little to no visible damage, but there were a few places you could clearly see evidence that a powerful storm had come through.

Please let us know what your experience was during the storm. 

———————Editor’s blog of the “hurricane”—————–

8/28 7:22 p.m. – Clear blue skies end this day that started with a hurricane. Hey, we survived an earthquake and a hurricane within one-week’s time. What could be next?

8/28 5:40 p.m. – Wissahickon Creek looks like a big river today. We’ll have lots of photos of this later. Since most of the businesses along Germantown Ave. were closed today I’m only going to mention some of those that are open. 

Earth Bread and Brewery opened its bar this afternoon around 3:30 p.m. Owners Tom Baker and Peggy Zwerver told NewsWorks that they had planned on being closed today but after realizing that the storm wasn’t that bad they decided to open. Just the bar is open, no food will be served.

McMenamin’s is open today.

Staples in Chestnut Hill was open.

Acme in Mt. Airy is open. 

Tiffin is open. 

Yu Hsiang Garden at 7630 Germantown Avenue is open.

Trolley Car Diner is open.

Both CVS stores are open today. The stores are at 7700 Germantown Avenue and 7065 Lincoln Drive.

8/28 3:00 p.m. – Only minor damage has been spotted in Chestnut Hill and Mt. Airy by NewsWorks today. The storm brought minor flooding to many parking lots and brought down a ton of branches but Irene did not hit this area with hurricane conditions. 

Lincoln Drive remains closed between Ridge and Wissahickon. Most of the businesses along Germantown are closed.

Wawa has re-opened and was seeing a lot of customers at 2:45 p.m. Wawa was forced to close earlier this morning after it lost power.

One surprise today was to see Jos. A. Banks clothing store open. John Lawler who is working there today said as of 2 p.m. he had seen only two customers. 

The 36-room Chestnut Hill Hotel was full last night with many evacuees. Erin Prough, who was running the hotel’s front desk, said many of her guests came in from New Jersey and Virginia. Last night’s guests had a chance to see the hotel’s latest renovations that were completed this month. Prough said the hotel didn’t lose power overnight, “We lost power in the last storm,” she said with a laugh. 

The Chestnut Hill Grill and Sidewalk Cafe, which is located in the same building as the hotel, is closed today. The chinese restaurant Kings Garden nearby is open today.

8/28 12:42 a.m. – Check out this video from Jeff Bundy. The parking lot of his Chestnut Hill townhome looks like a river.

8/28 12:41 a.m. – This video shows a portion of Germantown Ave. in Mt. Airy over a 12-hour period on Saturday. You can see how the day started off pretty nice then turned rainy. 

 

8/28 12:40 a.m. – This video shows what Saturday afternoon looked like in Mt. Airy. Light rain with kids still out on the playground. 

 

8/27 6:05 p.m. – The National Weather Service has upgraded the Flood Watch to a Warning. A Warning means that flooding is imminent or has been reported.

 

8/27 5:45 p.m. – Weavers Way stores in Mt. Airy and Chestnut Hill will be closed on Sunday. Big Blue Marble Bookstore will also be closed on Sunday. 

 

8/27 4:51 p.m – NewsWorks has set up a live police and fire scanner for you to listen to during the hurricane. It provides dispatch for police districts 5, 14, 35, and 39 and fire calls for the northern half of the city above Cecil B. Moore. (listen here)

8/27 3:00 p.m. – There is a 12 percent chance that hurricane conditions will hit our neighborhoods, according to the National Weather Service. There is an 87 percent chance for tropical storm conditions in Chestnut Hill/Mt. Airy.

*A hurricane has heavy amounts of rain with sustained winds of 74 mph or higher.

 *A tropical storm has lots of rain with sustained winds of 39 to 73 mph.

 

8/27 2:30 p.m. – SEPTA’s Chestnut Hill West will stop operating Saturday 5 p.m. All other SEPTA services will be suspended Sunday at 12:30 a.m. Service may resume Sunday afternoon.