Power outages, road closures and other damage caused when the remnants of Hurricane Ida made its way through Berks County Wednesday are impacting local schools for a second straight day.
In anticipation of the challenges the storm would create, 17 of the county’s 18 school districts dismissed students early on Tuesday, and the Reading School District opted for a full day of virtual learning.
Today three districts are closed, 10 had two-hour delays and two instituted remote learning days. Only Antietam, Wilson and Wyomissing operated normally.
School officials cited widespread power outages and road closures as the reason for delays and closures.
Wednesday was one of the rainiest days in Berks in the last century-and-a-half. A Reading Regional Airport database of rain totals that stretches back 152 years put the recorded amount of 4.5 inches as the 15th most to fall in a single day.
Other parts of the county saw even more rainfall, with daily totals reaching as high as 6.25 inches in Gibraltar.
According to Met-Ed, as of 6 a.m. about 7,000 customers in Berks were without power. PPL Electric Utilities reported about 75 outages in the western part of the county.
And emergency crews were kept busy throughout Wednesday afternoon and evening with calls regarding downed tree limbs, flooded roads, buckled pavement, rescues of people whose vehicles were stuck in water and basements that needed to be pumped out.
Here are the local school districts that implemented closures or delays today:
- Boyertown — Closed
- Brandywine Heights — Two-hour delay
- Conrad Weiser — Two-hour delay
- Daniel Boone — Fully remote
- Exeter — Two-hour delay
- Fleetwood — Two-hour delay
- Gov. Mifflin — Two-hour delay
- Hamburg — Two-hour delay
- Kutztown — Two-hour delay
- Muhlenberg — Two-hour delay
- Oley Valley — Two-hour delay
- Reading — Fully remote
- Schuylkill Valley — Closed
- Tulpehocken — Closed
- Twin Valley — Two-hour delay
The storm has also impacted Berks colleges. Reading Area Community College is closed today, and Kutztown University delayed its opening to 10 a.m.
Source: Berkshire mont
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