1,500 Emergency Calls For Help In Chesco During Tuesday Night’s Deluge

CHESTER COUNTY, PA —Chester County emergency responders received 1,000 calls for help and over 500 traffic complaints during Tuesday night’s deluge, which dumped nearly four inches of rain throughout the 757-square-mile county.

Kevin Beck, emergency management public information officer, said Wednesday afternoon that the rivers and streams throughout the county may rise above their banks later today.

“Everything is still in a fluid situation,” he said.

Both the Schuylkill River and the Brandywine Creek in Chester County caused some flooding Tuesday night.

Throughout the storm, there were eight water rescues in Chester County, approximately 17 calls for trees into houses, and approximately 130 calls for downed power lines or wires.

Emergency responders were also dispatched to approximately 20 calls for flooded basements.
Emergency services are continuing to monitor and assist municipalities in the aftermath of the storm that hit Chester County hard with power outages.

Outage update

There were over 63,300 power outages reported on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.

By 2 p.m. Wednesday, a total of 24,719 customers in Chester County were without power.

Specifically, 24,225 PECO customers, 365 PPL Electric Utility, and 129 First Energy customers were without power.

Beck said the utility companies have been working all day to restore power.

What To Do To Stay Safe

The Chester County Emergency Management Office recommends:

• Residents without power, please report outages to your utility providers.
• If you see barricades on roads and/or road closure signs, do not drive around them.
• If you see a flooded roadway, do not drive through it. Turn around, don’t drown.
• Water levels in creeks and streams may continue to rise late into today. Please be cautious when around waterways.