Saturday afternoon’s storm hit our part of the city hard. Wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour brought down trees, flooded streets and basements, and damaged homes across seven zip codes in West, Southwest, and South Philadelphia. City crews began responding immediately and are working around the clock.

Here is what you need to know to stay safe, report damage, and get real-time updates.

⚠️ Emergencies: Whom to Call

• 911 if a tree has fallen on a home, car, or property, is blocking a road, or if someone is injured. Also call 911 for any downed wires. Assume every downed wire is live.
• PECO at 1-800-841-4141 for power outages and downed electrical lines. Do not touch or attempt to move wires under any circumstances.
• Philadelphia Water Department at 215-685-6300 for major basement flooding, street flooding, and water main issues.
• 311 for non-emergencies, including out-of-service traffic signals, downed streetlights, and blocked roadways with no immediate safety risk. Any traffic signal completely out should be treated as a four-way stop.

📋 Reporting Property Damage

If your home, car, or property was damaged, take these three steps in order:

1. Document everything with photos and video before you clean up.
2. Contact your insurance first. Renter’s, homeowner’s, or auto, depending on what was damaged. This is your primary path to recovery.
3. File a damage report with the city at phila.gov/damagereporter. This helps the city quantify total impact and pursue additional state or federal resources if warranted.

📱 Get Real-Time Updates from the City

• Text STORMPHL to 888-777 for free text alerts as recovery progresses.
• Follow @PhiladelphiaGov on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and @PhilaOEM on Twitter and Facebook.
• Full list of official resources and updates: phila.gov.

🌳 The City’s Response and What to Expect

Between 2 and 7 p.m. on Saturday, the city received over 3,000 911 calls, with roughly 800 coming from West Philadelphia alone. Response times will be uneven while crews work through that backlog. Please be patient.

City crews are prioritizing in this order:

1. Life safety. Residents trapped in homes or buildings with structural damage.
2. Blocked roadways. Parks and Recreation, Streets, and PECO are working together to clear trees tangled with wires and remove debris.
3. Lower-priority hazards. Trees on the sides of blocks that do not pose an immediate safety risk will be addressed after higher-priority calls are cleared.

Water Department crews are responding to flooding complaints within 24 hours and clearing storm inlets across the city. This work will continue over the coming days.

⚠️ Safety Reminders

Assume every downed wire and every downed tree is live and unstable until crews confirm otherwise.

Do not walk through affected areas to take photos. The ground remains saturated, and additional trees can still fall.

Treat every out-of-service traffic signal as a four-way stop.

👥 Check on Your Neighbors

If you have elderly or vulnerable neighbors, please knock on their door or give them a call today. Do not assume someone is okay because you have not heard otherwise. This is exactly the moment when neighbors need to look out for each other.

If you need help navigating any of the reporting channels above, or if you are hitting a wall with an agency, contact our office.

Take care of each other.