Just after 1:30 this afternoon firefighters from across New Castle County responded to multiple reports of trees onto homes and wires down across the county.
As high winds moved through the area trees and utility police began coming down knocking out power to over 14,000 customers at one point.
As of 4 p.m., Delmarva Power crews were responding to hundreds of outages impacting about 10,500 customers across the region, said Delmarva Power Spokesman Timothy Stokes.
Stokes the majority of outages are located in New Castle County. Delmarva Power’s Emergency Response Organization is activated, and all available personnel are responding to support our customers. Crews are working to restore service safely and efficiently to customers as strong winds continue to move through our service area.
Strong winds are toppling trees and bringing down tree limbs that have downed power lines and damaged electric equipment, interrupting electric service for customers. Due to the high winds and other challenging conditions, some aerial restoration work that requires use of a bucket truck may be suspended until it is safe for crews to continue working.
Due to the impact of this storm, estimated times of restoration (ETR) are currently suspended and will be updated as crews assess damage. When available, customers will be able to access their ETR through our mobile app, automated phone system, or online through our website. While we are committed to restoring service safely and as quickly as possible for all customers, we have a heightened focus on restoring service first for hospitals, nursing homes, and other critical facilities. This follows our normal restoration process during a storm, which prioritizes addressing life-threatening, safety and health situations, including critical customers such as hospitals, nursing homes, and fire and police facilities. We then work to repair equipment that will restore power to the greatest number of customers first.
At this time, we urge our customers to stay away from any storm-damaged electrical equipment, especially downed power lines and tree limbs that may come into contact with power lines. It’s best to assume any downed wire or equipment is energized.
To report an outage or downed wire, customers are encouraged to call 800-898-8042 or make reports and track outages through our mobile app or our website at delmarva.com/storm. Customers’ reports are vital to Delmarva Power’s restoration efforts. Delmarva Power also recommends that, when reporting an outage, customers request an automated call when their power is restored. Call backs allow Delmarva Power to notify customers when work in their area is completed and they also help Delmarva Power locate outages that may be specific to customers’ homes.
Several injures were reported as the result of the damage. One family in Wilmington manor was displaced after a tree fell on their home, catching it on fire.
Delaware Electric Cooperative is reporting 76 customers without power.
