A downed tree on Taylorsville Road in Upper Makefield Friday.
Credit: Upper Makefield police
As of Saturday afternoon, thousands of customers in the Newtown area remained in the dark due to the nor’easter that brought rain, snow, and high winds.
Approximately 3,200 customers were without power as of noon. PECO crews and contractors working for the utility company were out making repairs to get service restored.
The outages hit Newtown, Upper Makefield and Wrightstown.
Upper Makefield officials said their municipal building on Eagle Road would be open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday as a warming and charging station.
A downed tree on Woodhill Road in Upper Makefield was cleared.
Credit: Upper Makefield police
Numerous trees and limbs were down across the area and made traveling a bit of a pain.
Upper Makefield police said the following roads in their community were closed:
- Taylorsville Road from Route 532 to Mt. Eyre Road
- Aqueduct Road from Taylorsville Road to Pondview Drive
- Old Dolington Road
- Brownsburg Road West
A statement from PECO said it activated its emergency response operation Friday and “all available personnel” were working to restore electric service throughout the region.
SEPTA’s West Trenton and Trenton Regional Rail lines that serve Lower Bucks County area were having problems as of noon Saturday.
Commuters who were not able to leave work in the city early Friday afternoon were unable to take the trains home as the day went on, SEPTA General Manager Jeffrey Knueppel said during a Saturday morning press conference in Philadelphia.
SEPTA General Manager Jeffrey Knueppel briefing reporters.
Credit: SEPTA
He said crews were working along the West Trenton Line, one of SEPTA’s longest, to clear downed trees that had caused service to be suspended starting Friday afternoon.
Around noon Saturday, limited service was restored along the Trenton Line. SEPTA officials warned that delays and crowded conditions were to be expected.
Knueppel said Amtrak, who owns the Trenton Line that SEPTA uses, had crews out Saturday working as quick as possible to restore service.
The Warminster Line was running trains with delays Saturday, Knueppel said.
Service on many modes of transportation that SEPTA operates was down Friday afternoon as the storm conditions intensified, Knueppel said.
“We tried to keep things running. I don’t think anyone anticipated that kind of storm that early,” he told reporters.
SEPTA officials said they would update a page on their website with storm-related information.
Heavy wet snow and high winds not only brought down trees but also overhead power equipment needed to keep rail service moving.
Amtrak said portions of their Northeast Corridor service that zips through Lower Bucks County were getting back on track as of late Saturday morning.
