The cleanup has begun in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. While there were some power outages, road flooding and downed trees, the greater Chadds Ford area faired fairly well.
“We dodged a bullet,” said Kathy Howley, township manager in Pennsbury Township.
She said one portion of Cossart Road was closed because a tree fell, and Fairville Road was closed in two places. The east side of the road was closed because the Brandywine Creek flooded and the west side, near Kennett Township, was closed because a power line was down.
Scattered power outages were reported in Chadds Ford Township and Route 1 southbound was closed at Creek Road because of flooding. The roadway was reopened Tuesday afternoon. However, as of Wednesday morning, roughly 475 homes in Chadds Ford were still without power, according to Joe Barakat, Chadds Ford Township manager.
Barakat added that, also as of early Wednesday morning, the 200 block of Heyburn Road, between Ridge and Smithbridge, was closed because of downed trees on power lines.
Barakat, who is also the emergency management coordinator, thinks the flooding was less severe than anticipated because the storm came from the south. The Brandywine Creek could have flooded more if the storm had been to the north, filling the east and west branches of the creek before they join and flow south to Chadds Ford.
In Birmingham Township, an estimated 175 homes were without power late Wednesday morning.
PECO is working around the clock to restore power to all its customers, said Martha Phan, a PECO spokeswoman. More than 2,000 employees are on street working to get power back up, but that could take up to a week, she said.
More than 850,000 PECO customers in the five-county Philadelphia region lost power, with Chester and Delaware counties fairing the best.
“It was the most dangerous storm in PECO history,” she said.
Roughly 30,000 customers in Chester County and 29,000 in Delaware County are still without power, Phan said.
She advised that customers should continue calling to report outages or to find out an estimated time of restoration. The number to call is 800-841-4141.
Phan also reminded people to stay away from down power lines.
Sandy forced the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District to close schools for two days. Also, the planned community conversation on bullying scheduled for Oct. 29 was rescheduled for Nov. 5 at 6 p.m. in the high school auditorium.
A planned zoning hearing for the Woodlawn Trustees property in Concord Township was also rescheduled to 7 p.m. on Nov. 13.
Photo above: The old sign for the Brandywine River Hotel is knocked over from the high winds of Hurricane Sandy. (Photo by Rich Schwartzman)
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
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