Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Water-boiling rumor generates steam

Sleep in not in the forecast for borough officials in Phoenixville, which is braced for more flooding and steamed over inaccurate rumors about its water supply.

Sleep in not in the forecast for borough officials in Phoenixville, which is braced for more flooding and steamed over inaccurate rumors about its water supply.

"We have not had this level of water in recorded history," said Borough Manager Jean Krack. He said residents who have never had water in their basements before do now, and some trees have toppled because the ground holding them is so saturated. The Schuylkill is expected to continue rising after dark, but Krack said the borough is as prepared as it can be. "We've got a great emergency crew," he said. "When you have a creek (French) going east and west, and a river (Schuylkill) going north and south, you have to take this sort of thing seriously."

Krack said he does not anticipate evacuations since the borough's lowest-lying areas are sparsely populated; however, all bets may be off if he learns who started a rumor that the borough's water supply was tainted. Krack may run that individual out of town himself. "I'm so angry at whoever put that word out without any knowledge of the situation," said Krack. He said he got a call from Phoenixville Hospital, which had received calls as panic spread and people wanted to know if they needed to boil their water. They did not, but Krack is still steaming. "Why would someone want to scare people like that?"

Elsewhere in Chester County, students in the Unionville-Chadds Ford district experienced another day off from school, courtesy of the overflowing Brandywine Creek.

"It is very unusual to have to close school twice in the first two weeks, but we have had record rainfall - and sometimes we have to pay a price for living and working in the beautiful Brandywine Valley," said a statement from Unionville-Chadds Ford Superintendent John C. Sanville.