Severe weather upends over 200 trees, sending them into homes, cars across Philly neighborhoods
Trees down on cars, in homes in Roxborough, Overbrook
Thursday's storms wrought havoc throughout the region, including in Philly neighborhoods Roxborough and Overbrook where trees fell, crushing cars.
ROXBOROUGH - Severe weather blew ferociously through the Delaware Valley late Thursday afternoon, leaving widespread damage in its wake and leaving more than 100,000 without power Friday afternoon. Trees were ripped from the ground, pulling down power lines and landing on homes and cars.
What we know:
Roxborough resident Kevin Scully said, "It was only about a half hour, but it was fierce. It was crazy."
The wind and rain came through so quickly in Philadelphia’s Roxborough neighborhood, it ripped a tree up, which then crushed several parked cars and even fell on top of one car driving.
Scully commented, "A car you can replace. That’s no big deal, but hopefully, everyone’s safe."
No injuries were reported in Thursday’s chaos, but neighbors say they’ve never seen anything like it in all their years in the neighborhood.
Resident Janet said, "I live on a hill. I’m just waiting for cars and houses to come rolling down the hill. It was ferocious."
Severe weather rips out trees, pulls power lines leaving thousands in the dark
From Philly to Cape May to Doylestown, severe thunderstorms crossed the region with high winds that ripped down trees and power lines, damaging all things in their path and causing an evacuation for safety of the outdoor concert being held on the Jersey shore.
More damage:
"It did a lot of damage and it came so quickly," Overbrook resident Anthony Cothran said.
A lot of damage happened in Philly’s Overbrook neighborhood, as well, where Cothran and his wife were watching television when they heard thunderous winds just outside their house.
He continued, "She said, ‘Oh Tony, my God, the tree is falling!’ And as soon as I turned back around the tree was right at the window!"
That tree fell on his house and two cars out front and neighbors who’ve lived here for decades say they cannot believe all of the damage.
Neighbor Tina Brown said, "It could have been worse. A lot worse. Nobody got hurt, you know? They can repair their home, they can repair their vehicles or whatever. I’m just glad, again, that nobody got hurt and, regarding the trees, we have one on my block. I don’t park under it for this very reason."
Power companies work nonstop to restore power after severe storms topple trees, power lines
The region’s energy giant, PECO, said it's working nonstop to return power to the tens of thousands of customers who went dark after Thursday night’s storm.
Big picture view:
PECO Power Outage Map: How to check outages in your area
Thousands are still without power after fierce storms rolled across parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey on Thursday.
More than 200 trees fell around the city and crews could not get to everything quickly. So, most people know they have to be patient.
Cothran added, "I know it’s all over the city, so I know everybody is hurting right now."