How would the new Venice Island water basin have fared in Hurricane Irene?

August 30, 2011

By Amy Z. Quinn of Plan Philly
for NewsWorks

While much of the neighborhood around it was left underwater by Irene's floods, the old rec center building on Manayunk's Venice Island was spared -- if only momentarily.

The water that deluged the area near Main Street and Shurs Lane covered about 80-percent of the Venice Island rec site and adjacent parking lot, but never made it into the building, said Don Bitterlich, senior project manager for the Daniel J. Keating Company.

Some of the chain-link fencing around the site ended up under water, but a construction trailer and some heavy equipment were moved off-site on Saturday morning, before the storm hit, but the building stayed dry.

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