Snow and Power Outages Mark Wintry Saturday

Business is brisk at in the Paoli Shopping Center where more people than usual are eating instead of taking out their Saturday night pies. Widespread power outtages from Devon west through Paoli and on both sides of Lancaster Avenue have thousands of people waiting in the dark.

The Morales family lives just south of Lancaster Avenue in Paoli. They said they've been without power since 3:30 p.m. Saturday, and are just hoping the power is restored by midnight.

Jenna Roessler lives near Conestoga High School on the north side of Lancaster Avenue in Berwyn. By 7:30, she and her husband had been trying unsuccessfully just to get through to PECO. She said a branch came down on their property knocking down a powerline to their house. But houses throughout Berwyn are out as part of a much wider outage.

Power is out in Devon also. One woman stopping in for a slice of cheese pizza on her way home to Charlestown said her mother's house on North Valley Forge Road had been without power since 12:30 p.m.

Pattye Benson, who owns the Great Valley House Bed and Breakfast, reports a huge cherry tree came down on the back of the house (the oldest residential building still in use in Tredyffrin) earlier this afternoon. Benson said they just finished repairing damages and replacing the roof, which was damaged during last year's winter.

Further east, power is out in neighborhoods along Old Eagle School Road and beyond.

Back at Bravo, the lights are on thanks to a back-up generator. But the TVs, which normally show sports, are silent and black. Internet Wifi is out, as is for an unknown number of homes in Tredyffrin and Easttown. The fans are also off to conserve power, which means the smells from the grill that are normally pumped to the outside are sitting heavy in the air. The diners who are staying to eat don't seem to mind. At least the ovens keep the restaurant warm and the lights are on, which is more than thousands of anxious PECO customers can say for their homes this snowy Saturday night in October.