As of 9 a.m. Thursday morning, approximately 5,550 PECO customers throughout the Levittown area remained in the dark following an intense line of storms the day before.
PECO and other utility crews were spotted around the region working to restore power. In the hours after the storm, more than 12,000 customers were in the dark.
Advertisements
The outages were caused by Wednesday afternoon’s derecho, a term used by meteorologist to describe a long line of intense and fast-moving storms with lightning, rain, and damaging winds.
The fast-moving system took down branches, threw debris around, knocked down utility lines, and brought down entire trees. Damage was reported in Bristol Township.
Advertisements
“Although a derecho can produce destruction similar to that of a tornado, the damage typically occurs in one direction along a relatively straight path. As a result, the term ‘straight-line wind damage’ sometimes is used to describe derecho damage,” according to a National Weather Service information page.
Derechos are not common in the region. In 2012, a derecho caused damage from the Philadelphia region down to Virginia.
Advertisements
Thursday’s storms led to the death of three people, all outside of Bucks County, according to NBC 10.
Jeff Jumper, a meteorologist for the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, said on social media that another batch of thunderstorms could hit the area Thursday afternoon. The main threats will be damaging winds, with smaller threats of hail and flood concerns.
Report a correction via email | Editorial standards and policies
Advertisements
