Power outage number tops 13,000 in Delaware County as storm hits

Storms hit Saturday shortly before 3 p.m. in Delaware County with limbs down on lines, wires down, plus lightning strikes, and quickly nearly 8,000 PECO customers were without power.

There was an accompanying deluge as well in parts of the county, with many low-lying areas flooding. The power outage number continued rising to 10,365 by 3:10 p.m., and to over 13,000 by 3:30. By 4 p.m. that number began to decline.

The first lightning strike dispatch was to a house in the 100 block of Edgewood Avenue in Haverford Township, and crews were dispatched minutes later to the Five Guys on Town Centre Drive in Concord Township.

Crews arriving on both scenes reported nothing was evident, but they would investigate further, according to radio traffic.

Fire stations were also sent to a water rescue in the 2800 block of East County Line Road in Haverford. Police arrived first and reported that half the vehicle was underwater. The officer soon located the driver, who had gotten out and made it to safety, according to radio traffic.

Police, fire and ambulance dispatches continued rapid fire at 3:30 p.m. PECO was asked to respond to numerous locations. Numerous alarm calls were also received at the county communications center.

A National Weather Service-issued severe thunderstorm warning was in effect for eastern Delaware County until 3:30 p.m. There was also a flash flood warning for the same area until 6:45 p.m.

One rainfall measurement was available at 3 p.m. That was St. Davids, where 0.71 inch of rain was recorded in less than 45 minutes, eventual reaching eight-tenths of an inch.

The Philadelphia International Airport recorded 0.32 inch of rain.

Sunny skies were expected to dominate the weather for the workweek, with high temperatures rising into the 90s on Wednesday and likely to stay there at least through Friday.