Powerful wind gusts that swept through Philadelphia on Sunday evening left thousands of Northwest residents without power – in some cases for days – as PECO worked to restore service.
The storm, which became furious around 5 p.m. Sunday and gained a second wind at daybreak Monday, brought gusts exceeding 60 mph across the region. The tree-lined neighborhoods of Northwest Philadelphia were hit particularly hard. Multiple trees came down, blocking streets and breaking power lines from Chestnut Hill to Germantown and East Falls.
Areas with a higher number of trees tend to …
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Powerful wind gusts that swept through Philadelphia on Sunday evening left thousands of Northwest residents without power – in some cases for days – as PECO worked to restore service.
The storm, which became furious around 5 p.m. Sunday and gained a second wind at daybreak Monday, brought gusts exceeding 60 mph across the region. The tree-lined neighborhoods of Northwest Philadelphia were hit particularly hard. Multiple trees came down, blocking streets and breaking power lines from Chestnut Hill to Germantown and East Falls.
Areas with a higher number of trees tend to be more affected, explained PECO spokesperson Izamarie Camacho. "The wind is still ongoing, so we are expecting these numbers to change a little bit." Residents can check for specific updates on outages in their area through PECO's Outage Map at peco.com.
Continuing gusts reached up to 35 mph on Tuesday, and wind chills dropped the temperature into single digits – a particular concern for those still without heat.
The impact has been widespread. At the storm's peak on Sunday, approximately 150,000 PECO customers lost power across the Philadelphia region. By Monday mid-day, that number had dropped to 35,000, and by Tuesday morning it was down to 12,983, with about 13 separate outages remaining in the Northwest area as of Tuesday.
In response to the crisis, PECO has launched one of its largest mobilizations of utility workers in recent months. "In addition to our personnel, we have approximately 1,100 additional field resources that will support this," Camacho said. "Crews are coming from Canada, and also our sister utility ComEd in Chicago to support the storm restoration efforts."
The utility company estimates complete power restoration by 11 p.m. Wednesday, though some areas may see service return sooner. However, persistent high winds continue to complicate repair efforts and could potentially cause additional outages.
What makes this event particularly notable is its unusual nature. According to PECO, power outages of this magnitude typically occur during thunderstorms, derechos, hurricanes, or ice storms. This event was caused purely by sustained high winds, marking the highest number of PECO interruptions since January 2024.
