Windy weather brings damage throughout the area

FAIRMOUNT PARK (WPVI) -- Strong winds on Sunday knocked down trees and caused damage throughout the area.

Off the Avenue of the Americas, near the Belmont intersection, a massive 25 foot long tree split and fell, trapping several cars including Laura Riordan's.

"We got back to where our cars were and a tree hit five cars in a row," she said.

Riordan and her daughter Lily ware walking in the Free to Breathe 5K Run and Walk in honor of her best friend's mom Terry Remly, who died of lung cancer.

Riordan parked on a grassy knoll and when she returned she saw the damage to her car.

There were thousands of people who attended event at Memorial Hall in Fairmount Park.

Tents for the event were blown away by the strong winds.

"The wind was so wild, we had the tent just blow over, all our framing pieces were just shattered on it," said Chris St. Peter, Party On Events.

Employees from Party On Events cleaned up what was left.

Even by mid-afternoon, tarps fastened to the ground by aluminum were blowing around near the Please Touch Museum.

In Wallingford, Delaware County, gusts uprooted a tree partially blocking Osborne and Rose Valley roads.

In Delaware, winds affected traffic from Talleyville to Wilmington, forcing residents to break out chainsaws.

At the peak, PECO had 20,000 power outages in several counties from Philadelphia to Montgomery to Chester and Bucks counties however by Sunday evening, those numbers dropped dramatically.