SPRINGFIELD (Delaware County), Pa. – As much as she was a rainmaker, Hurricane Irene was a power-taker.   Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses across the Delaware Valley are still without power after the storm’s passage — and it could be a few days before many folks are back on line.

For now, there’s a lot of work to be done for utility crews and homeowners alike.

“It looks like this is going to be one of our top five storms of all time,” says Peco spokeswoman Cathy Engel Menendez.

Besides the wind that toppled trees onto power lines, she says, flooding forced them to put the squeeze on the juice.

“Communities along the Brandywine, Schuylkill, and Delaware rivers — there we had to shut off service intentionally,” she explains, because of the danger of missing water and electricity.

And now, she says, crews from across the country are here, working twenty-four/seven to turn everyone back on (see related story).

Terri’s power didn’t get cut, but a tree in her backyard sure has to be.

“All I could see was the roots sticking up in the air.  Never heard it,” she told KYW Newsradio today.

Mike Bradley, with Bradley Tree Experts, was quickly reducing that 200-year-old black walnut to sawdust.

“We’re going to probably end up stump-grinding the whole root ball, and you won’t even know we were here,” he said.

The $3,500 bill might remind Terri and her husband — but at least they and the rest of their property came through the storm OK.

Reported by Ian Bush, KYW Newsradio 1060

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