Delaware County residents still working to clean up after severe storms pummeled region
CHADDS FORD, Pa., (CBS) -- It's been three days since Monday's storms devastated parts of the Philadelphia area and the clean-up continues. Many homeowners are trying to make a plan to move forward.
Delco Emergency Services escorted CBS News Philadelphia through some of the hardest hit areas from Monday's storm and personally checked on those affected. We stopped along Kelly Drive in Chadds Ford and met the Tuckers. Trees were down left and right on their property.
Robert Tucker says the storm came in quickly.
"Thirteen minutes prior to it happening I was sitting on my patio next to the pool," Tucker said.
That's when an alert came across their son's iPad.
"And he says, 'Dad, you need to get in here.' And he puts the umbrella down all slow and comes on and within 10 minutes, this starts to happen. So we all ran to the basement, and now he is all proud that he saved his dad's life," Cat Tucker said.
Once the storm passed, their dad then checked on the neighbors.
"And for the folk that I didn't hear from I ran to their homes," Robert Tucker said.
A tree even smashed a home across the street.
If you look up, it almost looks like like someone took a chainsaw to the top of the trees.
"There were incidents where the firefighters walked through the yards, walked through the type of environment to get to homes to help people," a man said.
Officials say they received about 500 calls after the straight-line winds hit the area at about 85-95 mph.
Now, the focus is shifted to cleaning up and continuing to make sure everyone is safe and equipped with the basic necessities.