DISASTER!

COUNTY DECLARES DISASTER EMERGENCY IN WAKE OF FEROCIOUS NOR’EASTER; 62,000 STILL WITHOUT POWER, COULD BE DAYS TO RESTORE

This wasn’t March coming in like a lion. This was a disaster.

High winds from Friday’s Nor’easter pummeled the region for a second day Saturday, leaving thousands across Delaware County without power for a second day. And PECO warned that some people may not see power restores for days.

The county declared a disaster situation Saturday morning and opened up a series of shelters and warming centers for those who were without heat or power, or just wanted to recharge their phones.

As of Saturday night PECO was reporting 62,000 customers without power in Delaware County; 55,000 in Montgomery County; 9,000 in Chester County and 39,000 in Bucks County. At its height, the storm caused more than 570,000 outages throughout the PECO service area, according to the company.

PECO indicated they hoped most residents will have power restored by Monday night, and any others by mid-week.

Driving was an adventure for a second day, with numerous roads closed by down trees, victims of the heavy, wet snow and wind gusts that reached 60 mph Friday.

Drivers had to negotiate stop signs at numerous intersections and fallen trees and scattered debris were a common sight.

At one point, 1.1 million people on the East Coast were without power because of the bomb cyclone Nor’easter that brought with it 60-mph winds and falling trees, crushing some cars and leaving many without electricity.

At its height in the Philadelphia area, PECO was reporting 570,000 customers without power and had brought in crews from Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio and Illinois to help restore service. “It is one of the largest storms in PECO’s history in terms of outages and impact to customers,” PECO spokeswoman Liz Williamson said. “We have been working around the clock since the storm started (Friday) morning to restore services as quickly as possible.”

By mid-afternoon Saturday,

Delaware County had declared a disaster emergency, a measure that enables municipalities to activate their emergency plans and allows the county expedited means for obtaining needed services such as contractors to remove fallen trees and branches.

“We are declaring a disaster declaration in Delaware County because of power outages,” said Timothy

Boyce, the county’s director of Emergency Services. “People are getting concerned with the cold. It doesn’t look like it (power) will be coming on soon.”

John McBlain, chairman of Delaware County Council, had talked to PECO officials Saturday.

“They’re in an all-handson-board mode … but as people have seen out there,

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Fallen tree sits across Cedar Lane in Upper Darby Saturday morning.

PETE BANNAN – DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA Mike Van Gieri of Havertown points to a tree that came down on the rear of his home, one of three that came down on his property. “It just stinks,” said Van Gieri.

PETE BANNAN – DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA A tree blocks the 300 block of Lenox Road in Havertown Saturday morning in the wake of Friday’s ferocious Nor’easter.