Bucks County takes brunt of winter storm
By Alex Lloyd Gross
As people woke up during the early morning hours of March 7 2018, they expected to see snow. They were upset as the roads were clear and most businesses closed. Were they wasting their time? The snow would come and it did. By 1:00PM a heavy wet snow was blanketing the area and coming down fast. This is called “Heart attack Snow” because moving it by shovel is hard work.
By 2:30 PM the weight of the snow toppled branches and trees. Power lines sagged and at the height of the storm 40 percent of Bucks County was without power. 180 thousand customers in the region. Pile on that, customers that did not yet get their power back on from the first storm, a good portion of the region was in the dark.
In Philadelphia, a truck jackknifed on Woodhaven Road . Route 1 was a mess from just south of Trenton to Philadelphia. Cars stalled out, trees down and wires down. PECO is working hard to insure the power comes back on as quickly as possible. A lot of times a problem is branches falling on wires. They can be removed. However, the wet wood smolders and catches fire.That rips the circuit and before you know it, 700 people or more are without power.
Power is restored to the largest number of people first. There could be people that are on a spur and it only affects a few customers. That explains why the rest of a neighborhood has power except for a few homes.