>> ♪♪ >> "action news." delaware valley's leading news program. with matt o'donnell, tamala edwards, karen rogers and meteorologist, david murphy. >> ♪♪ >> good morning it's 6:00 a.m. on this wednesday june 24th. matt is off, nydia han is joining us. developing this morning. >> residents and businesses around the region are assessing the damage following that fierce line of thunderstorms. >> power crews have been out there working through the night trying to restore power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses. >> and if you have plans to ride patco this morning you need to find another means of transportation. service is suspended. >> it is going to be a rough go for a lot of people. we have team coverage of the aftermath of this storm from across the region. let's get going with

meteorologist, david murphy and start with karen rogers. good morning. >> good morning. just getting to work is going to be so difficult. on the roads as well as the rails. we tacked about the power outages patco has their own situation. suspended service at this point and they don't expect service to be restored until mid morning at least. so you'll be dealing with that. what you could do is take new jersey transit because they are cross honoring tickets. we also have issues with the atlantic city rail line. it's not running right now. septa buses cannot service the chester transportation center. we certainly expect lots of local detours taking buses through the areas that are dealing with downed trees downed wires. media elwyn line no service at this point take the wilmington newark line. thorndale paoli no service between thorndale and malvern but you can get between malvern and center city with the thorndale paoli line. fox chase line suspended norristown high speedline suspended between norristown and radnor. lots of problems with mass transit. looking at the big picture the main issue not your main highways but the suburbs through the area.

overbrook 66th street a large tree blocking that area. in lower merion bala avenue at bala circle downed wires causing a problem there. on the schuylkill at girard a disabled vehicle on the highway off to the side but you can also see how the roads have really dried out so the main roads are okay but getting to them so many issues. look at new jersey in that gloucester county route 44 blocked near tomlin. we've got 44 crown point road at grove avenue traffic lights aren't working there. the ramp from 295 to 653 have been shut down. they have just reopened in some areas there due to downed tree that was cleared. 322 at meetinghouse road downed wires causing a problem with the traffic lights there and david you've got to treat it a as four-way symptom it's really hazardous trying to get to work with the traffic lights not working and downed trees through the area. >> many problems across the region and we'll highlight in a second where the worst of the problems are. take a look at some of the numbers from the powerful storms last evening and late yesterday afternoon. a 71 miles per hour gust at philadelphia international airport. and that puts that in the top

five on record at philadelphia international airport. i just saw an updated post from the national weather service and i believe that's the fourth strongest wind gust ever reported at the airport. number one 94, back in 1954. over 12,000 strikes across our area between the lightning and the wind that we have so many problems with power outages this morning. hardest hit area you start out in lancaster county, you go through chester county and southern berks. all of delaware county and philadelphia. southern montgomery county. camden and gloucester county. the northern parts of atlantic county and the southern half more or less of burlington county where we had 70 miles per hour gusts. several funnel clouds reported. no confirmed tornadoes yet. we'll see if that changes later today. trees down and power outages across the region. of course all that's gone now and we have sunshine up over the horizon and it does look like a nice one. temperatures are in the 60's across most of the region currently. low 70's down along the boardwalk. and on our storm tracker six app you can see it's going to be a warm one with highs in the mid 80's again this afternoon. but lower humidity, lots of

sun and much more pleasant. couple of more chances of precipitation in the accuweather 7-day. i'll have more on that coming up. nydia and tam. >> all right, thank you david. >> thank you. >> that violent line of thunderstorms left a lot of widespread damage in their wake. >> the powerful winds toppled trees and snapped power lines and at this hour more than 156,000 peco customers are in the dark. atlantic city electric says more than 164,000 customers are without power. pse&g is reporting 51,000 outages and 30,000 delmarva power customers in new castle county are without power. "action news" reporter erin o'hearn is live in brookhaven delaware county where the mayor mass declared a state of emergency and stunning scenes of damage where you are erin. >> reporter: right, that damage is certainly evident here nydia. and i was going through some of the social media images this morning and some of the shots that people took from last night's storms were frankly fascinating too look at but the reality of this morning is that none of these images are fascinating. in fact, it's just messy.

take a look at this tree. the branches were snapped in half and then, chuck, if you want to pan over you can actually see that the root was lifted from the ground right along the side of that house. and those are the kinds of images we're seeing this morning along school lane and north gray here in brookhaven. this neighborhood is completely out of power. some of the worst damage seen around here and it is devastating to residents who have days of cleanup. everyone knew it was coming but just how fast and furious was both shocking and frightening. the sky darkened and with the change a torrential town pour then the fierce winds. >> and all i saw was the fence lift up. i didn't even notice the tree. then i looked and saw the tree just start laying downward. looked like it was in slow motion. >> and i saw chairs just flying through the backyard and then the tree roots -- i saw the tree roots come up first. >> reporter: massive trees were brought down by strong

winds. roots were uplifted and branches were all across houses. streets went dark and the mayor declared a state of emergency. >> poured like crazy and the winding see there was -- it looked like fall up in the air there were so many leaves and branches and stuff in the sky. >> reporter: the damage was not widespread but heavy where the storms hit the hardest making it a challenge to restore power. >> we anticipate that we will have the majority of our customers back online with service by friday evening with some customers in the most isolated and hardest hit areas receiving their service this weekend. >> reporter: so, it's going to be a long haul for some of those customers without power but peco said they are bringing in crews from different states to help. now, take a look at this tree that was toppled on that car over there and across the street. now, obviously that road's impassable its pretty obvious but i have been seeing people come out in this neighborhood this morning sort of assessing

the damage. some of the damage and the danger areas are less obvious. as we have been a saying all morning be careful when you head out this morning and obviously our thoughts are with the neighbors here who have a long few days ahead of them. for now we're live in brookhaven, erin o'hearn channel6 "action news." back to you. >> indeed we do. let's go now live to ago "action news" reporter katherine scott in washington township gloucester county. good morning katherine. >> reporter: good morning, tam. the storms were intense and there is a lot of damage left behind. debris is everywhere. we're here at cypress court by silver birch. the roads are blocked. as you take a look at chopper 6hd overhead you can see all of the uprooted trees and some have fallen into cars and houses on this block. roads are blocked here so expect delays and detours. do not attempt to drive through these blockades. these storms hit with a fury and there's a lost damage left behind. >> we had minimal damage for

sandy compared to this. >> reporter: fierce storms tore through washington township last evening. tall trees uprooted, heavy branches snapped. they fell on power lines houses and cars. in gibbstown more destruction. utility poles mangled and twisted. the intensity of the storm took some by surprise. >> i grabbed my kids and i ran in the basement and it was terrifying. it was loud and you just saw like something out of a movie when you see the debris going around and around. >> reporter: the rain was heavy the winds fierce. in the parking lot of the deptford mall a car flipped over. in cherry hill trees cam came crashing down on houses and fences. some roads were blocked. >> it was pretty scary. it ripped our canopy out of our deck. it was nailed down -- screwed down and it just ripped the whole thing out and tore all the -- the whole canopy apart. >> reporter: yeah, these winds took a lot of people by surprise. some of them tell us they took cover when that storm blew

through. as we take a look here live you can see some of the lines are down. some of the trees have pinned down these power lines. just be very careful as you navigate these neighborhoods this morning. do expect delays. leave plenty of extra time. its hindering neighbors this morning, power is out. widespread power outages around here. so, a lot of cleanup left to do today. live in washington township, katherine scott channel6 "action news." >> a good reminder katherine stay away from those lines at all costs phil you're told everything is back up and running. throughout philadelphia evidence of the storm is hard to miss. the storm completely ripped a giant tree out of its base on wakeling street in frankford. the tree landed on the house next door, that's where brandy mavick lives. >> my daughter maggie and i were standing on the front porch watching the winds blow and the rain come down. all of a sudden we heard this crash and we saw the top of the tree just fly past the fronts of our faces. >> berk side avenue in wynnefield emergency crews helped navigate traffic away

from trees blown over and blocking the street. along 47th street in west philadelphia downed power lines and a broken meta light posed a danger. we have posted dozens of photos showing all the damage across the region on 6abc.com and our continuing coverage of the storm's aftermath. remember to send us your photos on social media with the #6abcaction. >> remember if you have friends or family members without power they can stream 6abc on the news app or on 6abc.com. >> some of my twitter and facebook followers are wondering whether or not tornadoes hit in their neighborhoods. these was mostly straight line winds. we had reports of several funnel clouds. karen rogers has just buzzed the national weather service and they'll say later this morning they'll make a determination whether or not there's areas they they need to investigate for a tornado touchdown. streit strait line winds can do as much damage as a tornado tornado. storm tracker six shows you

there will be a nice day around the region. what a ride last night. take a look at some of the top wind gusts. medford new jersey 70 miles per hour gusts. glassboro 70. king of prussia and long beach island also 70 miles per hour. wilmington 67. the gusts at philadelphia international airport at 72. that puts it number four on the all time list of gusts recorded. the highest was 94 back in the mid-50's before my time and glad it was before my time. 61 degrees currently in allentown. 69 degrees in philadelphia. 66 in trenton. 64 in wilmington and 71-degree readings along the boardwalk right now in sea isle city nd atlantic city. the other thing about the situation outside right now is that the dewpoints are a lot lower and we are looking at that northwest breeze lowering those dewpoints and making for a much more comfortable day. boy, yesterday was just, whoosh, with that humidity. storms gone, sun is coming back. in allentown you were in the 90's yesterday but only 83

today, mostly sunny in the lehigh valley. less humid than yesterday. all of that is good news. and not as much storm damage up in the lehigh valley as well. mostly sunny and pleasant at the shore 82 degrees on the beach. so, a pleasant day next to the water. ocean temperatures running in the upper 60's along the new jersey coastlines and 86 degrees with lots of sun and lower humidity in philadelphia today. those winds fairly gentle at seven to 14 miles per hour. if you are happen to be walking around maybe doing some exercise, which you probably put off yesterday because of the high humidity i would be careful. keep your ears out for any cracking branches or anything because sometimes some trees are weakened by storms yesterday. they might still want to drop a branch or two today. 78 degrees by 11:00 mid 80's this afternoon with our high of 86 late in the day probably around 4 o'clock. tomorrow we got a warm front coming through that will increase clouds during the day. another high of 86. still fairly comfortable overall. in the late afternoon or evening a shower or thundershower is that possible but looks like we're mainly dry during the day and that's good 'cause of this guy here. talk about that in a second.

sunny and nice, 86 today. nice weather for the seattle sounders and philadelphia union at ppl park tonight and i apologize union fans i have been calling that the cup match. that's next week. this is a regular match with seattle tonight. and then sun to clouds on thursday, 86 degrees is the high there. parades of sail -- parade of sail i should say starts at 2 o'clock here on 6abc tomorrow and it does look like we'll be mainly dry during the afternoon for that event. most of your shower and thundershower activity at night. 79 mostly cloudy on friday and there could be rain particularly in the morning. on saturday breezy and at times rainy a high of 72. another union game, that's a 6abc game at night on saturday. i'll be down there. i may need an umbrella. we'll see whether or not we get rain saturday night. there's a chance. mostly cloudy on sunday, 73. not a bad day at all there with just a slight chance of an early shower and then popping back up closer to 80 as we move into early next week. >> at least a brief nice reprieve. >> oh, yeah. >> we'll enjoy the weekend. thank you. it's 6:13. still ahead more stories you

did not see last night including new details on the early morning fire in southwest philadelphia. karen. >> problems here in south philadelphia. this is penrose avenue at 26th street at the base of the platt bridge. you could see fire police are out there directing at the scene because the the traffic lights aren't working. you'll find this scenery peteed throughout your morning commute. all the details on what could be a difficult drive to work when "action news" comes right back. i'm whoopi goldberg and new york is my home. there's no place like it in the world and no better place to lean about the people who shaped who we are today. hear about the lives of slaves in colonial new york and about the fight

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>> welcome back. let's get an update on the power outages. >> joining us on the phone is liz williamson from peco. good morning liz. >> good morning. >> what do you think it should take to get folks back online and should they call you if they have an outage right now. >> right now we have about 160,000 customers without service. we continue to make good progress. at the height of our storm we had about 229,000 customers without service. and we have all our peco crews dedicated to getting the power back on for our customers. so we also have about 200 local contractors joining us to help restore service as well as 500 field personnel from utilities in ohio, kentucky, west virginia and new york who will also be coming on our system to get our customers power restored. we do encourage customers to

call us at 188-41-4141 to report an outage. don't assume that we know your power is out or that your neighbors have called. they can also report outages and check the status of an outtaj at peco.com or use our peco smart mobile on the go web site for mobile devices. >> lots of ways to get information. >> absolutely. thank you, liz. >> thank you. >> all right. and let's go on over now to karen rogers. you've been so busy this morning because transit troubles both in the roads and on the rails. >> all kinds of problems. yesterday my husband said took him four hours to come home from work which would normally be a 50 minute ride. you have to anticipate you'll encounter so many different roadways blocked with downed trees. here are some of the pictures we got. bill chute a viewer sent this. this is gloucester county and you can see how this downed tree just completely blocked the highway there in greenwich township and here we've got downed power lines causing the issue here.

on the waze app people talking about on 55 objects on the road northbound near deptford. that's one of the areas where we saw cars that had just overturned in that area. i was reading some of the national weather service reports. they have reports of hundred year old trees 40-foot trees come crashing down from the root and that's what you're encountering on your drive to work so lots of problems through the area. i want to talk about one of them right here. we still have police that are over here off to the side. this is an accident here in plymouth meeting allen wood road is blocked at ridge pike so we can see police still directing traffic off to the side over there on allen road. looking at some of the damage reports still through the area, we're getting a lot of new jersey, cambridge drive near hunters lane downed wires here. mount laurel road nearly a bow lane downed wires. 70 eastbound major highway at springdale road we've got problems here with downed wires causing an issue. route 70 again at 541 main street we have downed traffic lights. 73 between kresson road and evesham road you've got problems there with downed traffic lights. downed trees wherever you -- 13 southbound blocked at

rogers road. lambson road blocked at new castle. this general area that was harder hit we're seeing a wide region where we had over 70 miles an hour wind gusts. you got to expect downed trees and power lines tam. and we'll be right back.

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>> rain and thunder interrupted the pomp and circumstance at egg harbor township high school last night. graduates and their family and friends ran for cover when the storm rolled through. now, earlier in the evening several people were overcome by the heat and humidity and had to be attended to by medics and taken to the hospital. >> and those severe storms still causing problems for your morning commute. we've got a new problem just in right now. i want to go to the cameras. this is i-95 hard to see with the sun glare but southbound between woods hey and academy

road a new accident. you can see it partially blocking the left lane jamming you on 95 from woodhaven to approaching academy. another downed tree and wire this one in concorde township route one southbound blocked at schoolhouse lane and this problem is repeated throughout the region. >> storm came in about 10 minutes to 5:00 in drexel hill. this is my neighbor's tree and watch what happens right there. about a 50-foot branch come down. he actual had two he lost over there and got to say the national weather service did a great job with thunderstorm warnings. i had about a 45 minute heads up before that storm hit. joseph in washington township new jersey also showing downed trees. my twitter follower thanks a lot for that. today we've got a much more tranquil days, lower humidity, still warm with a high of 86 this afternoon but lower humidity and lots of sun and finally i want to quickly show you where the severe weather is today. from areas close to chicago back into i what that's the best chance of tornadoes. these yellow areas a slight chance of some strong gusty storms. so if you happen to be flying out on vacation to the midwest or down south you want to keep

your eyes on your airline's eitheritinerary for possible delays. >> reporter katherine scott is taking a look at all the damage in gloucester county, new jersey. katherine. >> ♪♪ >> reporter: that's right, tam, fierce storms last night left a lot of damage across our area. we're live in # washington township with more on the cleanup today coming up at 6: 6:30. >> ♪♪

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>> an overnight fire damaged three stores in southwest philadelphia. the blaze broke out around 12:15 overnight on a 6400 block of woodland avenue. firefighters got there to find heavy smoke and flames. all three of the damaged stores are believed to be vacant. one firefighter was treater for smoke inhalation. >> the sixers have lost a legend. long time employee harvey pollack has died. known as super stat, pollack was the team's director of statistical information. he was the longest tenured employee in the nba. pollack a temple grad an member of the basketball hall of fame started with the philadelphia warriors in 1946. harvey pollack was 93 years old. >> what a life. it is 6:27. storm cleanup affecting parts of the morning commute. karen rogers will be back with your full traffic report. >> winds were strong enough to flip over cars and send trees crashing into homes. live team coverage from the hardest hit areas when "action

news" continues.

>> ♪♪ >> developing now on "action news," crews are out there working around the clock to try to get that power back on for hundreds of thousands of people who are still in the dark after yesterday's storms moved through. peco says customers might not be back online for days. >> power problems are causing truck for mass transit in new jersey. patco service is still shut down. we're helping you get where you need to be. >> and let's take a live look now. chopper six is over some of that storm damage. this is gloucester township camden county in new jersey and as we look down, you can see that tree just split. it looks almost as though lightning has hit it. there were a lot of strong straight line winds many people seeing downed power lines, trees in the road, debris everywhere. going to be a day for cleanup and trying to get this power