PECO is showing about 26,000 Delaware County customers without power on Friday night at 6:30 in the wake of the Thursday late afternoon line of storms that rolled through the area.
Numerous roads were closed around Delaware County on Friday morning but later most reopened during the storm cleanup.
And, it’s out of the frying pan and soon into the fire with an excessive heat watch starting Sunday for a few days of broiling temperatures.
Meanwhile, power outage numbers ramped up quickly after 5:30 p.m. Thursday when the squall line blew into Delaware County, packing winds in excess of 50 mph. There were numerous calls for wires down, limbs down, accidents, pedestrians struck, water rescues, house fire calls and every other kind of storm damage.
The individual outages were up to nearly 75,000 in Delaware County at the height of the disruption with nearly 300,000 in the entire PECO service area, an unusually high number.
Tom Brubaker of PECO couldn’t be certain when all the customers would be returned to service.
“This is a multi-day restoration event. It’s a fairly significant event,” he said Friday. “This impacted our entire service area.”
Brubaker added that the utility has almost 1,000 people in the field working on repairs and that crews from other providers were coming to help in with those repairs.
He said that the soggy grounds contributed to trees being uprooted.
He also said he couldn’t provide an accurate cumulative total of customers who lost power. Such a total would include any customers who were briefly out of service, but were switched to a different circuit and power was quickly restored. He such a cumulative number would distort the perception of the incident.
Mike Connolly, Delaware County communications director, reported that the 911 center received over 2,800 calls for service from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday during the height of the storm.
“The 911 center followed their normal staffing procedures during this event, which includes breaks for employees while ensuring that all lines remain fully staffed at all times,” he added.
At 5:02 p.m. Thursday a large and extremely dangerous tornado was located over Landenberg, or 7 miles north of Newark, moving northeast at 40 mph, the weather service said.
It was called a particularly dangerous situation: “Considerable damage to homes, businesses, and vehicles is likely and complete destruction is possible.”
On Friday, the office in Mount Holly said the following regarding the passage of the line of thunderstorms:
“From the damage reports we have received thus far from the storms yesterday, Thursday, June 19, it appears the damage was caused by straight line winds of 60 to 70 mph. At this point we don’t see any evidence that a tornado occurred. However, we will continue to evaluate as we get additional reports.”
Heat is next
Don’t be fooled by the pleasant temperatures and north wind on Friday. That pattern of cool fronts bringing crisp air into the region for days is not going to stick, as it has in recent weeks. This time hot is going to win, and by this point in summer it would be a surprise if it didn’t.
The National Weather Service-issued extreme heat watch starts at 8 a.m. Sunday and, for now, continues through 8 a.m. Wednesday. Daily heat indices are expected to be over 100 degrees. The start time for the watch was moved up 24 hours on Friday afternoon.
Expect high temperatures in the mid-to-upper 90s for several days, according to the forecast. Date records might be threatened.
Some details from the watch:
• Heat related illnesses increase significantly during extreme heat and high humidity events.
• Heat will have a cumulative effect on the body as the week goes on as little relief will come overnight.
• Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors.
• Do not leave young children and pets in unattended vehicles. Car interiors will reach lethal temperatures in a matter of minutes.
Brubaker said PECO is prepared for the heat, too, but urged utility customers who remain without power when the heat hits to seek out public cooling centers.
Connolly said seniors can now pick up free fans at any senior center in the county and that will be going on all summer.
The county has designated the following libraries as cooling centers:
• Helen Kate Furness Free Library, 100 N. Providence Road Wallingford.
• J. Lewis Crozer Library, 620 Engle St., Chester.
• Lansdowne Public Library, 55 S. Lansdowne Ave., Lansdowne
• Marple Public Library, 2599 Sproul Road, Broomall
• Newtown Public Library, 201 Bishop Hollow Road, Newtown Square
• Rachel Kohl Community Library, 687 Smithbridge Road, Glen Mills
• Radnor Memorial Library, 114 W. Wayne Ave., Wayne
• Sharon Hill Public Library, 246 Sharon Ave., Sharon Hill
• Tinicum Memorial Public Library, 620 Seneca St., Essington
• Upper Darby Township & Sellers Memorial Free Public Library – Municipal Branch, 501 Bywood Ave., Upper Darby
• Upper Darby Township & Sellers Memorial Free Public Library – Primos Branch, 409 Ashland Ave., Secane
• Upper Darby Township & Sellers Memorial Free Public Library – Sellers Branch, 76 S. State Road, Upper Darby
• Yeadon Public Library, 809 Longacre Blvd., Yeadon
