Some warming centers in Philadelphia are operating around the clock during the extreme cold spell this week. They opened their doors just in time, as one community spent hours overnight on Tuesday without power.
“Around 7 p.m., I was watching Family Feud and the lights went out,” said Miss Thomas. “I came outside and everything was out. I call my neighbor- ‘Your lights out? My lights out.'”
Chopper 6 was up above Kensington, where you could see big areas of dark after more than 1,500 customers in the area lost power.
“My phone was running low so I had to come to my car to charge my phone,” Thomas added.
Around 7:15 p.m., the fire department was called for multiple transformer explosions. When they arrived, they found a transformer and wires down at Rorer and East Westmoreland streets.
PECO’s emergency teams responded and some power came back online, but others remained in the dark throughout the night.
See PECO power outage map here .
This outage comes after temperatures plunged on Tuesday. Twenty warming centers opened in the city after a Code Blue was issued.