By Pat Loeb

WILLOW GROVE, Pa. (CBS) — The Pennsylvania National Guard remains on duty in our area, even though the task force commander says damage from Hurricane Sandy was lighter than anticipated.

Col. Sam Hayes strapped on his helmet and put on safety glasses today for his reconnaissance mission around the region.

Leaving from Willow Grove Joint Reserve Base, where the stoplight was out, his Humvee had to take several detours around fallen trees or wires.

“But all in all, it looks pretty good,” he said.  “People are out, moving around.  We haven’t seen any flooding or anything.  Now we’re going to go down to the city to see how things are down there.”

Things were possibly even better in Philadelphia neighborhoods, where fewer trees meant less damage.

Hayes says he was pleased with what he saw.

“When you consider what could have been, I think we were pretty fortunate, the way it worked out,” he told KYW Newsradio.