The strong storms that rolled through Delaware County on Labor Day caused power outages, closed streets, and even resulted in three reported house fires.
Sean Miller, director of the Delaware County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, said Tuesday morning there were no injuries or fatalities reported as a result of the storms, but the brunt of the damage caused by Mother Nature occurred in the city of Delaware and in eastern Delaware County.
According to the EMA weather station in the city of Delaware, wind speeds reached as high as 67.6 miles per hour, resulting in numerous trees and wires being downed. Miller reported Tuesday morning that 2,600 customers were without power in the county as a result of the storm.
Delaware Community Affairs Coordinator Lee Yoakum reported that by 8 a.m. Tuesday, the number of residents without power had dropped to 1,300. By Tuesday afternoon, there were fewer than 100 residents without power.
Yoakum reported parts of the city saw five inches of rain on Labor Day, and he added crews from the city’s police, fire, public works and parks departments spent Monday evening into Tuesday morning cleaning up debris left behind by the inclement weather.
Miller said flooding did not close any roads in the county, but some roadways were closed due to downed power lines or tree limbs.
As for city roads, Yoakum said Campbell Street and Dunlap Street were both closed due to low-hanging wires, and city crews worked with utility and communication companies to reopen the roads as fast as possible. He added parks staff spent Tuesday clearing downed limbs from the city’s bike paths.
Yoakum reported there were no reported flooding issues with the Delaware Run, but he added that at the peak of the storm, there was standing water on Franklin Street and Central Avenue due to downed limbs blocking catch basins.
Two separate fires occurred in the city as a result of lightning strikes, Yoakum said. One of the fires was in an attic and the other occurred at a house under construction. No injuries were reported in either case. Miller reported at least one more fire occurred in the county, adding there were no injuries reported.
Miller said a weather camera near U.S. Route 23 and state Route 750 appeared to record a funnel cloud, but he said the National Weather Service had yet to confirm it was indeed a funnel cloud.
