09/02/2026
These photographs were not taken from the sidelines.
Five years ago, the remnants of Hurricane Ida hit our area and brought catastrophic flooding to Phoenixville and the surrounding communities.
I took photographs whenever I had a safe opportunity, but I was also there as part of a Phoenixville Fire Department swiftwater rescue crew.
This is a firsthand account based on my memories from five years ago. Some of the smaller details may not be 100 percent exact, but they are accurate to the best of my recollection.
It is a bit of a read, but worthwhile IMO. If you take only one thing from it, let it be this:
Turn Around, Don’t Drown.
Our crew on Utility 65-1 and Boat 65 included Ian McCormick, who was driving, Tyler Frees, Dave Keller, and me. Great group, if I'm being honest!
We had spent the day checking our boat, dry suits, personal flotation devices, helmets, gloves, ropes, and other equipment. We knew heavy rain was coming, but we did not know exactly what that would mean.
Would this be like most storms, with some minor or moderate flooding, or would it be something much worse?
It did not take long to get our answer.
The times below come from the metadata in my photographs. They represent when I happened to take a picture, not when we were dispatched or arrived.
At 5:29p, I took the photograph on Chester Avenue.
Water was coming through the area at an incredible speed. It was striking utility poles and signs and shooting several feet into the air. We had never seen anything quite like it.
We found a vehicle partially submerged in the rushing water, but thankfully it was unoccupied. We then continued to the area behind Acme on Cedar Drive, where another vehicle was approximately three quarters submerged. We assisted the occupants and some other people out of the flooding before moving on.
At one point, another Phoenixville water rescue crew was sent to Mont Clare to assist Upper Providence Township Fire and Emergency Services and Black Rock Volunteer Fire Company with residential rescues.
At 8:21 and 8:38p, I took photographs near Route 23 and Valley Park Drive.
We had been called to assist Berwyn Fire Company with the Valley Creek rescue near the covered bridge in Valley Forge National Historical Park.
Our assignment was to establish a downstream safety position near the Route 23 bridge. If a victim or rescuer was washed down Valley Creek, we were there to try to stop them from being carried farther downstream.
Phoenixville personnel worked alongside Valley Forge Volunteer Fire Company, Friendship Fire Company Diving-Rescue Unit, and personnel from several other agencies. Berwyn Fire Chief, at the time, Eamon Brazunas was at the command post during what became an extremely difficult and complicated, but successful rescue.
At 10:33 and 10:55p, I took photos during the rescue on Clover Mill Road.
A vehicle had attempted to cross the flooded roadway and was swept against a guardrail. The final few feet of that guardrail appeared to be the only thing keeping the vehicle from being carried hundreds of feet downstream into the woods.
The windows were fogged, so we could not immediately determine whether anyone was still inside.
The water was moving too quickly for a boat operation, and approaching the vehicle on foot was not safe. Tyler initially attempted to move along the guardrail while secured by a safety line, but we found out that part of the ground beneath the guardrail had washed away.
We stepped back and reconsidered our options.
After some discussion with Chief 61 and others on location, I remembered seeing a ladder truck used during a water rescue in the past and mentioned it. Ladder 65 was eventually brought to the scene as it doesn't need as wide a footprint for the outriggers.
Mike O’Hara did a fantastic job positioning the aerial ladder over the rushing water and out toward the vehicle. Tyler Frees and Bryan Meadows traveled out on the ladder while connected to safety lines that we were holding and feeding.
When they reached the end of the aerial, they used a roof ladder to bridge the final distance to the vehicle. They reached the occupant and brought him back across the ladder to safety.
It was a great example of everyone thinking on the fly and working together to solve a very difficult problem.
While all of this was happening, Chester County was requesting any available water rescue personnel and boats to assist in Coatesville or Downingtown. They had a father with two children trapped in the rising floodwaters. Crews throughout the region were already committed to rescues elsewhere. Eventually, they were rescued, though.
At 12:39a., I took the photograph at White Horse Road and Pothouse Road.
A woman was trapped inside a Jeep surrounded by extremely fast moving water. When we arrived, other crews had already been dealing with incredibly difficult conditions.
After downstream safety teams were established, we maneuvered Boat 65 toward the Jeep.
While we were waiting nearby, a generator, transformer, or another piece of electrical equipment at the pumping station exploded about 15 feet away.
That definitely woke us up.
We reached the Jeep, checked on the occupant, gave her a life jacket, and transferred her into our boat.
As we attempted to cross the current, the force of the water caught the front of the boat and turned us downstream. Tyler was able to redirect us enough that we came to rest against another Jeep, a utility pole, and a traffic signal control box.
That was a much better outcome than continuing downstream toward the woods and dam.
Almost immediately, I felt pressure against my left leg and looked down. One of the boat’s air chambers had been damaged, and we were taking on water.
Crews on shore threw rescue lines to us. Dave and the woman entered the water and used one of the lines to pendulum safely to shore.
They were safe.
I followed and made it to shore as well.
Tyler secured the damaged boat so it would not float away and then climbed onto the hood of the Jeep. Joe Motzer and members of Friendship Fire Company Diving-Rescue Unit were able to reach him by boat and bring him safely back to shore.
By the time we returned to the station, it was approximately 2a. The rain had mostly stopped; we had no other rescues pending, and our damaged boat was still tied to a pole.
The National Weather Service later documented 7.92 inches of rain at a location west of Phoenixville, with much of it falling in only a few hours. The Schuylkill River at Norristown crested at a record 26.85 feet.
Upper Providence Township reported 71 swiftwater rescues and 195 people rescued or evacuated during Ida and its aftermath.
Many people were rescued throughout the region that night. Tragically, the storm also claimed lives and caused damage that some families and communities would be dealing with for years.
The nighttime photographs in this post were taken while these incidents were happening. The aerial photographs show some of what Ida left behind after the water began to recede.
This is one of the reasons photography is important to me. It is not always about beautiful scenery, perfect lighting, or capturing a happy moment.
Sometimes the photos help to show what actually happened, what responders faced, and just how quickly a normal roadway can turn into something extremely dangerous.
Please never assume that floodwater is shallow, slow, or safe. You cannot see whether the roadway has washed away underneath it, and it takes very little moving water to push a vehicle somewhere its driver never intended to go.
Turn Around, Don’t Drown.
For those who lived through Ida in the Phoenixville area, what do you remember most from that night?
