June 25, 2015

Chadds Ford’s Katharine King had a dilemma. She was tending to a new batch of baby chicks when the power went out Tuesday.

The chicks had been shipped from Colorado and were less than a week old. Nutrient from the yolk sustains them for shipping, but after that, and at less than a week old, they needed to be kept in an area where the temperature was between 90 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit. With no power for the heating lamps, King couldn’t give them the proper temperature.

Things became more problematic Wednesday morning when it was clear to King that no one knew when power would be restored.

Knowing the township uses an emergency generator, she made a call, asking if she could bring the cage and heat lamps to the Chadds Ford Township building. The answer was “Yes.”

So, King — who’s been keeping chickens for their eggs for 24 years — took 15 baby chicks, the lamps and the cage to Turner’s Mill and put the young little ladies — with cage and lamps — in a downstairs area where they could be kept warm.

“We just provided some shelter,” said Township Manager Amanda Serock.

It was important to King.

“They need to be kept at 95 to 98 degrees for the first week. Then [the temperature requirement] is reduced by five degrees every week until it reaches 70 degrees,” she said. “It was pretty critical on Tuesday because they were less than a week old.”

The chicks were OK at the King home through Tuesday night, but Katharine King became concerned Wednesday morning, so “I called the [township] office. They could always say ‘no,’ but they were very helpful in letting me keep the chicks there and tend to them. [Township personnel] have repeatedly told the community they can provide services in a situation like this. One never thought that it would have to be chickens,” King said.

King added that she and the humans in the family were prepared to use the township facilities themselves to be able to take a hot shower.

“That’s the whole point of the building,” said Township Secretary Matt DiFilippo.

King started raising chicks when her two oldest children were still young, ages 5 and 3. The idea, she said, was to teach them responsibility.

She said taking care of chickens trained the two to be responsible for something else everyday. In time, it also taught them how to manage money through buying feed and selling eggs.

“They learned to spend, sell and save,” she said.

The current new brood members are White Laced Wyandotte, Speckled Sussex and Buff Orpington chickens. King said they’ll start laying eggs in about five months, and then produce about 280 eggs per year.

(Top photo: Chadds Ford Township secretary Mat DiFilippo and Katharine King with two of the chicks allowed to stay warm at the township building while the King’s home was without power.)

Updated at 4 p.m. with road closures in Kennett Township

The scene across the area was pretty much the same everywhere. Trees were down on the back streets and traffic was heavy on the major arteries. And power was out from Kennett Square to Concord Township and beyond for more than 24 hours.

PECO said more than 250,000 customers were affected during the height of the outage. In Delaware County, 160,000 lost power, and 56,000 were without power in Chester County.

But crews began the tedious process of restoring power from the outage that hit the area shortly after 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 23. Many homes had power restored during the overnight hours from Wednesday to Thursday.

As of noon on Thursday, approximately 48,000 customers remained without service, according to PECO, including 20,000 in Chester County and 23,000 in Delaware County. Sixty-three roads remain closed in Chester County, with Newlin and West Caln Townships the hardest hit, said Patty Mains, a spokeswoman for Chester County’s Department of Emergency Services.

Among the areas that fared better was Pennsbury Township, according to Kathy Howley, township manager in Pennsbury Township, said her township had some outages, but they weren’t as widespread as in other places. Residents who live on Hillendale Road said they never lost power, despite the fact that downed trees closed Hillendale and Fairville Roads.

Other areas were hit harder.

Bill Kirkpatrick, a township supervisor in Birmingham Township, said that as of 10 a.m. on Wednesday, June 24, about 80 percent of Birmingham’s residents were still without power. Trees were down on a number of roads, and Route 926 was closed at South New Street and west of the Brandywine Creek.

Creek Road was also down to one lane in several areas in Birmingham.

It was much the same in Chadds Ford Township, where the village was hit hard. Amanda Serock, Chadds Ford’s township manager, said approximately 988 township properties were without power as of 9:30 a.m.

Leader’s Sunoco couldn’t pump gas, and the traffic light at Route 1 and Creek Road was not working.

Webb and Ring Roads were closed throughout the day because of downed trees. Crews didn’t begin clearing a tree on Ring Road near the township building until Wednesday evening.

Traffic lights at Ring Road and Brandywine Drive remained functioning, but the signal at Route 202 went off and on throughout the day and evening of June 24.

Signals along Road 1 in Concord were out well into the evening and southbound traffic on Route 1 was down to one lane because of scheduled roadwork and because a tree fell into the street near Thornton Road.

Traffic lights were also out along Concord and Smithbridge Roads.

The power outage and related traffic problems also forced the cancellation of two meetings. Chadds Ford canceled its Board of Supervisors workshop on June 24 and Concord Township postponed its Government Study Commission meeting until the week of July 6. The specific date was not yet announced.

In Pocopson Township, the township office remained closed on Thursday; however, voicemail messages were being checked, according to a recording on the township’s phone line.

In some areas, such as Wylie Road in Birmingham Township, tree limbs that had been defying gravity continued to fall on Thursday morning, creating new dangling power lines.

In Kennett Township, road closures included Center Mill between South Fairville and Burnt Mill, Old Kennett between Merrybell Lane and Creek, and Marshall Bridge between Bucktoe and Kaolin. Township officials urged drivers to avoid these sections, explaining that the township has to wait for the wires to be removed prior to removing the trees.

(Top photo: Ring Road is one of many roads that were closed due to down trees and power lines.)