Crews clean up mess in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, after high winds knock out power, traffic lights
Cleanup is underway across Bucks County, Pennsylvania, after powerful winds tore through the area Tuesday evening, toppling trees, damaging traffic signals and knocking out power to neighborhoods and businesses.
At the intersection where Huntingdon Pike becomes Second Street Pike near County Line Road, utility crews were hard at work Wednesday repairing a tangled mess. A traffic light was taken out, and tree debris littered the ground.
According to the National Weather Service, winds with gusts of 55-60 mph swept through that area around 4:30 to 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Residents say the damage caused major disruptions. Atrice Moore of Southampton was headed to a doctor's appointment when she found the road near the office closed.
"Just closures, no detour or way to get around it," Moore said.
She parked far away and walked.
"It has taken me at least 40 minutes out of the way just to get to that one building," she said.
In Feasterville, a few miles away, another intersection lost power and was converted to a four-way stop with temporary signage. Nearby, the Buck Hotel — a restaurant, bar and banquet space — was in the middle of a large event when the outage hit.
"We were just in the middle of a Passover dinner for 90 people and the power went out," bartender Gloria DeBellis said.
Despite the disruption, staff continued serving guests even though they didn't have any power for a full hour.
"Clearly, everything worked out," she said.
By Wednesday afternoon, two-thirds of the Buck Hotel had power again. Meanwhile, some neighborhood yards were strewn with downed traffic signs and other debris.
"This was not on my bingo card today — that's for sure," said Dan Fuerst, who lives nearby.
Fuerst noted some trees still hadn't been cleared from a storm last month.
"The warm weather is going to be here shortly!" he said.
