65K Chesco Residents Still Without Power Wednesday Morning

CHESTER COUNTY, PA — Chesco led Philadelphia-area counties in numbers of PECO customers still without power Wednesday morning, after Hurrican Isaias tore through the area Tuesday.

On Tuesday evening, PECO reported 102,700 Chester County customers were without power. By Wednesday morning, the number was down to 65,035 of PECO's 214,898 customers in Chester County.

Phoenixville, Downingtown, West Chester, Chester Springs and Paoli areas reported the highest number of outages, but power was out across the county, with few areas not seeing outages.

PECO's outage numbers continued to go down through the morning. By 10 a.m., PECO reported 63,862 without service, meaning nearly 1,200 people had their power restored over the early morning hours.

Downed trees and poles pulled down power lines during Tuesday's midday storm with heavy rain and strong winds. A downed tree on Sugartown Road forced cars to turn around in the midst of Tuesday's storm, before emergency workers could mark the area, a resident said.

Residents in Paoli and Malvern who had reported their outages began receiving estimates on Wednesday of when their power would be restored. For some it may be days: Some shared service estimates on social media that indicated they would have power again by late Thursday night or Friday.

PECO said its own workforce as well as 200 area contractors are working to restore power. PECO said an additional 500 contractors are "en route" to assist in the emergency.

PECO encourages customers to check on their neighbors in outages emergencies, especially the elderly.