Power surge fried sockets and damaged appliances in several Langhorne homes

LANGHORNE, Pa. (WPVI) -- A power surge hit a Bucks County neighborhood Sunday, leaving several homeowners with damaged appliances and some even without air conditioning for days in the sweltering heat.

"I heard all these various explosions," said one Langhorne homeowner. "The third one I heard was the panel being blown up in the back of my house."

The surge fried the sockets and appliances along the entire back wall of the home.

The 300 block of Penncrest Road was at the epicenter of Sunday's power surge. But just one neighborhood over, on Valley View Road, it was more of the same thing.

"It's green when it's protecting and now there is nothing," said Paula O'Neill, examining her surge protector. "Obviously the surge was so big it took out the surge protector."

It even blew the street lights throughout the neighborhood and left many people still without working appliances, and even air conditioning, three days later.

"I have the windows and doors open as much as possible, and I'm just depending on what comes through," said Maxine Boral.

Due to the weekend storm, PECO said a number of things could have caused the surge. However, residents say this has been an ongoing issue since 2015, in fact, this is the second surge this year.

"This isn't the first time we had a power surge. We lost a microwave about a year ago," said Tina Shipley. "PECO needs to fess up and make corrections. They know what is wrong."

Meanwhile, the utility company is asking residents to file claims for items damaged due to the surge.

"I'm told something like this could be covered by our homeowner's insurance, but I'm hoping that PECO would step forward and take care of something like this. A power surge like this is not to me a normal thing," said Bryan Kennedy.

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