Utility crews working to restore power before next storm hits Philadelphia region
CHADDS FORD, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- Utility crews from across the country are in the Philadelphia region trying to restore power to thousands of customers who were left in the dark after a powerful storm hit on Tuesday.
PECO is trying to get customers back online before another storm hits the area on Friday and Saturday.
"They came down from New York and Indiana, up from Florida and the Chicago area to help us out," said Heidi Arambula, who who wasn't expecting to get her power back to her Malvern home until Friday. But, thanks to the extra crews, her power was restored a day early.
"We do have enhanced staffing in place, and those resources we brought in to support us earlier in the week until now, we're keeping them on to respond over the weekend," said Madison Davis, a PECO spokeswoman.
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According to PECO, Chester County was the hardest hit with thousands still without power three days after the storm.
"Right now those jobs that we're still working on are ones that are taking a lot of work," said Davis.
Barricades blocked Country Club Road in Tredyffrin Township where a massive tree still blocks Charlestown Road.
At Palermo's Pizza in Phoenixville, workers were in the dark for about 12 hours due to the storm.
"I don't mind bad weather, I just don't like when you know affects us financially," said Nathan Guerrini who works at the business.
The utility company hopes to have power restored to to most people by Friday night, just before another storm hits the region possibly causing more outages.
The push to get the lights back on is welcome news to people who have been in the dark since the Tuesday storm.
"Our power went out at 9:20 and it's been out ever since," said Tim Hogan, of Malvern.
PECO crews are watching the forecasts because they cannot work in bucket trucks if the wind is over 30 mph.
