Delaware County residents left in the dark as they clean up after storm

BROOKHAVEN, Pa. -- The strong storms on Tuesday knocked down trees, damaged homes and left thousands without power in Delaware County.

With the power outages and the damage left behind, state officials declared a disaster emergency.

Well into Wednesday evening families in Brookhaven continued working to get their homes and their yards back in order.

Jean LaSpada grabbed her rake to clear away branches and trees blown around by the storm.

"It is really a quite a devastation - in fact I got caught in it and it was horrifying," said Jean LaSpada.

At her neighbor's house one street over, a tree uprooted and crashed through the patio.

A tree service removed part of it but a good portion still remained.

Ryan Mazon lives here with his family.

"I paused. It was surreal. I kinda thought for second that this wasn't real," said Mazon.

Brookhaven's mayor, Mike Hess, was among those caught up in the storm.

"I went out to my back patio to close the windows and I looked at my big sycamore tree, that's about 200 feet tall, 50 years old, and it just snapped like a toothpick," he said.

Mayor Hess called 'all hands on deck' Tuesday night, bringing together police officers, firefighters and maintenance personnel.

They opened the municipal complex where 57 people sought shelter. Hundreds of homes are still without power and traffic lights are out at major intersections.

"Their estimate is they hope to have 95 percent of service restored by midnight on Friday. They anticipate they will have several thousand customers in Delaware County whose service will not be restored until sometime during the weekend," Delaware County Councilman John McBlain said.

Brookhaven wasn't the only town in Delaware County feeling the effects of the storm.

In Media, families flocked to the popular 'Dining Under the Stars' event on Wednesday night

However dozens of restaurants like Picassos were without power, putting a damper on business.

"We're trying. Obviously nothing in the kitchen is able to go - it's pitch black," said Elise Rehoric.

Carol Woody and her daughter Sammy needed a place to grab dinner because their power was still out on Wednesday night.

"I hope it gets back on," said Sammy.

"We do like to come up to 'Dining Under the Stars' on Wednesdays here in Media but today it was very helpful to come up because we can't cook," said Woody.

Little Anthony's, a pizza shop on State Street, was in the dark but the ovens worked because they run on gas.

"Gas ovens fortunately and now we're sweating and trying to help everyone," said Vinny Screnci.

Cleaning up this mess won't be easy, and it will be days before many people get their power back.

Some might not get power back until the weekend.

The municipal complex remains open for anyone who needs temporary shelter and a meal.