Afternoon Update: Montgomery Ave. Still Closed, 100 Still Without Power Due to Fallen Tree

A very large, very old oak tree fell across Montgomery Avenue in Ardmore late Tuesday night, tearing down 40-foot-high power lines, snapping two utility poles and forcing the closure of all traffic lanes for a quarter-mile between Anderson and Woodside roads, leaving 550 customers without power.

Caused by heavy winds and rain, the tree disrupted electrical service to seven poles, according to PECO spokesperson Cathy Engel Menendez late Wednesday morning.

“When you close Montgomery Avenue, it’s a huge deal, and the evening rush is always worse,” said a Lower Merion Township official at the scene who asked not to be named. “I’m hoping like heck that at least we can have a couple of lanes open by this afternoon, but we’re at PECO’s mercy. I don’t think they could get any more guys on the crew, though. “

There were dozens of hard hats moving about at the scene, operating a half dozen chainsaws, multiple wood chippers, cherry-pickers and other heavy equipment. At least three large “gang trucks” were on hand for PECO, along with Asplundh tree removal workers and Lower Merion Township employees.

As of 3 p.m. Wednesday, 100 customers were still without power, and traffic was still being diverted to Lancaster Avenue. PECO expects it to return by the afternoon. At the scene, power has been restored on Montgomery Avenue directly east of the immediate accident scene at Woodside by the Exxon station.

According to Mike Beck, assistant director of public works, Montgomery Avenue will "probably be blocked the better part of today." Crews have detour signs in place, directing traffic to Lancaster Avenue, Beck said, and around the 60-foot-long oak tree, which was at least 80-years-old.

The downed oak involved so many power lines that workers could not start cutting away at the tree until about 10 or 11 hours after it fell.

“It could have been very much more serious, if it had hit a car,” said Phil Galluccio, a 19-year resident of the Pennmont apartments at 34 W. Montgomery Avenue, just a couple hundred feet away. “It’s bad enough at that intersection, which is notorious for high-speed accidents.”

The tree fell across all four lanes of Montgomery Avenue, about five or six car-lengths from the traffic light at Woodside.

Steve Curry, a Lower Merion Township tree trimmer, was asked how he would rate the incident with past similar ones, on a scale of one to 10. “With wires, I would say about a nine,” he said.

Engel Menendez said Montgomery County on the whole sustained minimal outages due to the storm. At mid-morning, PECO's website counted between 1,500 and 3,500 outages throughout the county.

In Ardmore, it was another story.

“This is a pretty bad one,” said Byron Nethery, a tree trimmer for PECO subcontractor Asplundh who was on the scene by 2:30 a.m. for the emergency work. “It snapped two poles—that’s a lot of weight from that oak.”

 Crews working the scene repeatedly remarked how fortunate it was that the tree fell in the wee hours, and not during the morning rush.

Tree trimmer Steve Curry rated the incident on a scale of 1 to 10: "I'd put this at about a nine."

The accident has caused no known injuries, workers at the scene reported.

Anthony Coyle, who lives just steps away at the Suburban Square Apartments, said he heard a thunderous bang at a time he recalls as 12:30 a.m. “All the appliances shut off,” he said. “I came out side and right away saw what looked like major destruction.”

It is not known at exactly what time the tree came down. PECO said it first received power complaints at 9 p.m. Tuesday evening.

Check back with  throughout the day for updates on the progress of the cleanup.

Sam Fran Scavuzzo contributed to this report.