Storm causes power outages and closed schools throughout Chester County

Jan. 10—WEST CHESTER — Overnight Tuesday and Wednesday high winds and heavy rains brought down branches and trees while causing widespread power failures all over Chester County.

The Chester County Department of Emergency Services (CCDES) continues to monitor and assist municipal responses to the storm that impacted the area.

“Throughout the duration of the storm, there were eight water rescues in Chester County, approximately 17 calls for trees into houses, and approximately 130 calls for downed power lines or wires,” the Department of Emergency Services reported. “Additionally, emergency responders were dispatched to approximately 20 calls for public service involving flooded basements.

“There have been over 1,000 calls for service in the afternoon and evening of Tuesday, January 9, and over 500 traffic complaints throughout the duration of the storm and into Wednesday morning.

CCDES is emphasizing:

Residents without power, please report outages to your utility providers.

If you see barricades on roads and/or road closure signs, do not drive around them.

If you see a flooded roadway, do not drive through it. Turn around, don’t drown.

Water levels in creeks and streams may continue to rise late into today (Wednesday, January 10), please be cautious when around waterways.

PECO spokesperson Madison Davis reported mid-morning Wednesday that 52,000 customers were without power in the entire service region. There were 21,200 customers in Chester County still without power at 3 p.m.. Overall, 215,000 customers lost power in the service area. Estimated restoration time for the majority of customers should be within 24 to 48 hours.

PECO called in an additional 1,000 field personnel from Maryland, Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, New York and North Carolina to work alongside PECO crews to help restore power safely and as quickly as possible, Davis said.

With saturated ground and possible high winds, Davis said that more outages are possible. She suggested that customers consult the regularly updated outage map at PECO.com/outages

West Chester Police and Fire Departments responded to more than a combined 100 calls for service during the storm. Incidents ranged from flooded roadways, trees down, wires down and a water rescue. No injuries in the borough were reported.

Thousands of students stayed home. School districts reported either fully closed for learning or schooling through flexible instruction and online lessons were Great Valley, Downingtown, Avon Grove, Phoenixville, Unionville, Kennett Consolidated and West Chester.

Mary Schwemler is the manager of communications for the West Chester Area School District and said the district doesn’t anticipate any issues that would prevent West Chester schools from opening back up for in-school learning on Thursday.

The Delaware Environmental Observation System listed the following rainfall totals for Jan. 9: Wolf’s Hollow Park, Atglen — 3.08 inches; Chester Springs — 3.04 in; Devault, Tredyffrin — 3.57 in; Springton Manor Park, Glenmoore — 2.77 in; and Bucktoe, Kennett Square — 3.08 in.

Also: Longwood, East Marlborough — 3.20 in; Marshallton, West Bradford — 3.2 in; Nottingham Park, Nottingham — 3.63 in; West Chester — 3.89 in; and West Grove — 2.21 in

Downingtown is prone to flooding, but Mayor Phil Dague reported no such issues Wednesday morning, although he said there were lots of wet basements and homes without power.

“Other than that I think we got lucky,” Dague reported.

The National Weather Service predicts a storm for Friday night through Saturday morning that could bring another round of strong winds and heavy rainfall, with rain and possibly a thunderstorm, starting Friday, from 10 a.m. to 4 a.m., and with a chance of precipitation pegged at 100 percent. New rainfall amounts of between 1 and 2 inches are possible.

Reporter Michael Rellahan contributed to this story.

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