Thousands Lose Power After Violent Storms Pound Region

Violent storms knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses and now one of the region's largest electric utilities says some people will remain in the dark until Friday.

PECO Energy tells NBC10.com that it will take crews until the end of the week to get service restored to all customers affected by the powerful Tuesday night storm.

The severe line of thunderstorms barreled through the area around 7 p.m. Tuesday bringing torrential downpours and winds whipping up to 60 miles per hour.

"We just experienced a 65 mile per hour micro burst," said Jay Kimberly, a meteorology student who lives in the Port Richmond section of the city. "It blew metal and glass tables over six-foot fences. It came straight down and blew everything out of the way. Very scary indeed."

At the height of the storm more than 250,000 customers were left without power with the highest outages occurring in Chester County. But crews were able to cut that number by more than 100,000 by early Wednesday morning.

In Radnor, Pa., dozens of trees fell, taking down power lines and crashing into fences outside homes. In Yeadon, a large pine tree snapped along Lansdowne Avenue and crashed into a car that was waiting at a stop light.

"It just felt like something hit it," said the driver, Chris Lewis of Drexel Hill. "I saw the mirror fall so I knew something hit it, but I didn't know it was like that."

Lewis was not injured during the crash, though if the tree had landed only a few more inches in his direction, he very well could have been.

"Luckily nobody was in the backseat," Lewis said. "Thank God."

The storm forced SEPTA to suspend all service or operate partial service on three regional rail lines -- the Fox Chase, Chestnut Hill East and Paoli/Thorndale. Service was restored to all but the Chestnut Hill East line by Wednesday.

Here's a complete breakdown of the latest power numbers:

PENNSYLVANIA

PECO Energy

Chester County - 5,039

Caln Twp. - 138

Charlestown Twp. - 179

Coatesville City - 112

East Bradford Twp. - 159

East Fallowfield Twp. - 713

Schylkill Twp. - 106

Tredyffrin Twp. - 147

Uwchlan Twp. - 335

West Caln Twp. - 903

West Goshen Twp. - 130

West Pikeland Twp. - 134

Westtown Twp. - 352

Willistown Twp. - 219

Delaware County - 1306

Brookhaven Boro - 145

Chester City - 170

Haverford Twp. - 124

Newtown Twp. - 147

Radnor Twp. - 285

Montgomery County - 2183

Abington - 710

Cheltenham Twp. - 120

Lower Merion Twp. - 238

Lower Moreland Twp. - 120

Perkiomen Twp. - 279

Springfield Twp. - 204

Upper Moreland Twp. - 107

Philadelphia County - 467

Bucks County - 2,747

Bensalem Twp. - 105

Bristol Twp. - 579

Falls Twp. - 645

Lower Makefield Twp. 211

Lower Southampton Twp. - 104

Middletown Twp. - 376

Upper Southampton Twp. - 156

Warwick Twp. - 190
 

PPL

Lancaster County - 554

DELAWARE

Delmarva Power

New Castle County - 237

Caroline - 174

NEW JERSEY

PSE&G

Burlington County - 109

Camden County - 350


Atlantic City Electric

Burlington County - 1105

Power Company Contact Info

DO NOT call 911 to tell emergency operators that your power is out. They will be dealing with real medical emergencies. You can use the following numbers to report your loss of power.

PECO

    Emergency: 1-800-841-4141 (24 hour service)
    Customer Service: 1-800-494-4000 (Mon through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sat. 9 p.m. to 1 p.m.)

PPL

    Emergency: 1-800-DIAL-PPL (1-800-342-5775 (24 hour service)
    Customer Service: 1-800-DIAL-PPL (1-800-342-5775) (Mon. through Fri. 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.)

Atlantic City Electric

    Emergency: 1-800-833-7476
    Customer Service: 1-800-642-3780

PSEG

    Emergency: 800-436-PSEG (7734) (24 hour service)

Delmarva

    Emergency: New Castle County (DE) and Cecil and Harford Counties (MD) 1-800-898-8042
    Kent and Sussex Counties (DE) and the Eastern Shore of Maryland 1-800-898-8045

American Red Cross Southeastern Pennsylvania

    Contact: 215-299-4000

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