A 22-foot-high floodwall was supposed to protect Aqua Pennsylvania’s water-treatment facility near the Schuylkill River from a 100-year storm. But when the remains of Hurricane Ida barreled through the area near Philadelphia in September, the 18-inch-thick wall proved no match for the record rains.
Waters breached the barrier and inundated the plant. Mud and debris coated offices. Employees rushed to shut down the facility. They barely got out in time, some rolling down car windows in case they got caught in the rising waters and had to leap out, said Chris Franklin, chief executive of Aqua’s parent company, Essential Utilities Inc. : “We’ve never seen destruction like this before.”
