Power line explosions leave Pottstown neighborhood without heat in subzero cold

POTTSTOWN, Pa. (WPVI) -- Residents of a Pottstown neighborhood spent hours without heat after power lines and transformers exploded Tuesday night, knocking out electricity as temperatures plunged to minus 3 degrees.

Video captured by a neighbor showed repeated bursts of light and loud pops.

"We actually thought it was a gunfight," said Shania Lloyd.

It wasn't gunfire; it was the electrical system failing along King Street, leaving homes dark and rapidly cooling.

"Blankets and huddle up with my dogs to get heat, we all needed heat and there's not much you can do," said Lloyd, who recorded the video.

Lloyd said the outage began around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday and lasted until about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. She pointed out the transformer seen in her video, where she said the first flashes appeared.

Inside her home, the temperature dropped quickly.

"My house dropped to 45, and it's sitting at 50 right now," she said. Lloyd and several of her neighbors had to call out from work.

PECO officials said Wednesday the outage was caused by extreme cold temperatures mixed with increased usage.

The utility also has crews on standby ahead of this weekend's expected storm in case additional outages occur.

"If issues occur, we are committed to working safely to repair damages and restore service as quickly as possible," said Candice Womer of PECO.

Lloyd said she is relieved her power is back on, but is still waiting for her home to warm up fully.

"Who knows how long it will take to reheat," she said.