Power outages and damage reported across Pennsylvania, South Jersey and Delaware after storms
EAST BRANDYWINE TOWNSHIP, Pa. (CBS) — The Delaware Valley is feeling the effects of powerful, fast-moving storms that hit the region Tuesday afternoon and evening as another round of severe weather moved into region on Wednesday.
Thousands of customers across Pennsylvania, South Jersey and Delaware are dealing with power outages, and strong winds brought down large trees.
The National Weather Service office in Mount Holly, New Jersey, said on social media Tuesday night it had received multiple reports of wind damage in eastern Pennsylvania and north and central New Jersey.
In a release Thursday afternoon, PECO expects "95 percent of all customers" will have restored service sometime Thursday, while the company said it will "have nearly all customers restored by Friday night."
PECO added now more than 400 "mutual assistance field workers from Alabama, Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina, and Virginia" are on hand to help restoration efforts.
"Radar data supports that several severe downbursts/macrobursts (straight-line wind) have occurred," the agency said around 9 p.m. Tuesday.
A large tree came down on Roosevelt Boulevard in Philadelphia's Bustleton neighborhood. It was still blocking the inner southbound lanes early Wednesday morning.
Several trees snapped and brought down power lines in the Lehigh Valley, including near Dorney Park and Cedar Brook roads in Allentown.
West Chester Police PIO Dave March also shared several photos on X of downed trees on Hillsdale and Birmingham roads. Later Wednesday morning, drone video captured the extent of the damage on Hillsdale, which remains blocked by a fallen tree.
Also in Chester County, which was hit hardest with power outages, a massive tree came down along a rural road in Coatesville.
Steve Chapracki spent Wednesday morning chopping up downed trees in his front yard.
"It came quick," Chapracki said, "and it was pretty fierce."
Hours later, Chapracki's still without power.
The Chester County dad isn't alone. PECO said about than 130,000 customers were left in the dark. PECO has crews working to bring the lights back on.
"When I looked out the window, there were the wires down," Helen Carr said. "Our electric pole to the house is down, and tree limbs are down on. It's been a mess."
Downed trees blocked roads in East Brandywine Township while power outages also knocked out stoplights.
According to the county director of emergency services, the western part of Chester County saw the most damage.
With more on the way, neighbors are hoping the next set of storms doesn't bring more damage like Tuesday night.
Tracy Flynn took video from inside her house in East Brandywine as the storms rolled through, knocking out her power too.
Like many in this neighborhood, the Flynn family is relying on their generator.
"Overnight was awful trying to sleep," Flynn said, "but we made it through."
In Montgomery County, winds brought down a tree between two houses in Perkiomen Township.
Tuesday night's storms also brought a barrage of lightning to the region. In Voorhees, New Jersey, Camden County officials said they're "99% sure" that lightning started a fire at the Heritage Grove apartment complex Tuesday night. Video from Chopper 3 showed a large hole in the building's roof Wednesday morning.
As crews work to clean up the damage Wednesday, residents across the region are still dealing with power outages. See which counties in Pennsylvania, South Jersey and northern Delaware are reporting the most outages below:
PECO
PECO said Wednesday that power outages were restored to over 80,000 customers are severe weather caused damage, leaving over 130,000 customers without services. Still, over 1,000 customers are without power.
As of 9 p.m., PECO reported 940 active power outages impacting more than 48,000 customers.
Chester County was hit the hardest by Tuesday's storms, with more than 43,000 customers still affected.
In Montgomery County, more than 4,600 customers were still without power around 9 p.m. Fewer than 7,000 customers are still without power in Bucks, Delaware and Philadelphia counties.
About 200 mutual assistance field workers from Alabama, Indiana, South Carolina, Mississippi and Virginia are slated to help PECO crews with restoration work.
According to PECO, additional crews are coming in from outside the outage area to help restore power. Customers are encouraged to check PECO's website to see when their power is expected to come back on, though restoration times will be updated as crews continue to assess storm damage.
PPL
About 8,021 PPL customers are without power statewide, as of 9 p.m. More than 800 customers were still affected both Bucks and Chester County.
Met-Ed/FirstEnergy
Met-Ed/FirstEnergy has restored power for many, but about 1,200 customers in Berks County and 1,400 in Bucks County were still without power as of 8:30 p.m., along with 150 in Montgomery County and small numbers in other areas.
New Jersey
In New Jersey, as of 9 p.m., 85 PSE&G customers are now dealing with outages. Earlier in the day, that number was closer to 2,000.
Atlantic City Electric's outage map isn't reporting nearly as many outages as other local power companies Monday, with fewer than 100 customers affected.
Delaware
Delmarva Power is now reporting fewer than 100 outages impacting about 314 customers.