As a result of the severe snow and ice storm battering the northeast, the Philadelphia Electric Company (PECO) stated on Wednesday that a winter record high 735,000 customers lost service across Philadelphia and surrounding areas; 623,000 of those were PECO customers. Hurricane Sandy, which struck New Jersey in the Fall of 2011, was responsible for 850,000 outages for PECO.
“Based on current damages we believe we can restore service to most customers in the next few days,” PECO tweeted after 2:30 p.m. “All personnel working on restoration effort.” PECO confirmed that over 3,000 of the utility’s employees are working to restore power.
The storm, which moved in from the mid section of the country, landed on Tuesday night and is burying New England and the mid-Atlantic regions of the country. It is the second storm in a week that has laid havoc to businesses, farms, and schools throughout the region. Unfortunately, it looks like Mother Nature is going for the “hat trick,” as a third storm is rearing its frozen head and may be invading sometime early next week.
Moreover, PPL has 45,000 customers without power, down from 60,000 earlier, with Lancaster County bearing the brunt of them. Also in New Jersey, PSE&G, a utility company that services New Jersey and other outlying states, said they had 35,400 outages among customers, down from 40,000 at one point. The vast majority are in Burlington and Mercer counties in NJ.
Here are a list of safety items and precautions you can take if experiencing an outage:
– A battery powered radio.
– A corded telephone. (Cordless phones will not work if the power is out.)
– Flashlights and extra fresh batteries.
– A first-aid kit.
– Bottled water and an adequate supply of non-perishable food.
– A non-electric can opener.
– Matches and candles with holders.
– Extra blankets and sleeping bags.
– A list of emergency phone numbers to report power outages or downed wires.
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