Thousands without power after severe July Fourth weather, more damaging storms move in tonight
Thousands of people in the Philadelphia suburbs are still without power Sunday after severe and damaging storms blew through the region on the Fourth of July.
The weather started to turn around 8 p.m. Saturday, prompting organizers to evacuate the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, where thousands had gathered for the One Philly: Unity Concert for America.
According to PECO, about 4,400 customers were without power at 9:30 p.m. Sunday. That's an improvement from Sunday morning, when the company said approximately 17,000 customers were without power.
About 845 PPL customers in Berks County and 267 in Bucks County were without power as of Sunday night, according to the utility company. Earlier Sunday, more than PPL said in a statement that it had restored power to more than 116,000 customers in its coverage area since the severe weather began, and crews "continue to work around the clock to repair extensive damage and restore power for the more than 115,000 customers without power."
FirstEnergy is reporting about 1,000 customers in Berks County and 62 in Bucks County are experiencing outages as of Sunday night. In New Jersey, Atlantic City Electric is still responding to about 95 outages impacting more than 700 customers.
The outages come as the Delaware Valley is set to experience another round of potentially severe storms Sunday night.
Storms packed with damaging winds, heavy rain and lightning are expected to move through the region overnight into Monday. Waves of these storms will continue through Monday, elevating the risk for flash flooding.
Some areas could even see between 3 and 5 inches of rain.
In a social media post, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and the state's Public Utility Commission are in contact with PECO and PPL, "supporting efforts to restore power as quickly as possible following severe storms that impacted central and southeast Pennsylvania last night."
"As strong storms are expected to move through Pennsylvania again this evening, please follow the direction of your local officials and check @PEMAHQ for important updates," Shapiro said.
Meanwhile, the union representing about 1,500 PECO workers is on strike after IBEW Local 614 and PECO failed to reach an agreement on a new contract by the union's July 4 midnight deadline.
The two sides resumed negotiations on Sunday morning.
In a statement, PECO said foremen and supervisors who are not part of the strike are "supporting our contingency efforts," and the company is utilizing "additional field support from outside of our region to further assist us, from states as far as North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida."