Strong winds, heavy rain cause outages, flooding

Wires were down, traffic lights were out, roads were flooded, flights were delayed, and bridges banned tractor trailers this morning, because of a storm system that brought high winds and a couple of inches of rain.

A flood watch for streams and low-lying areas was in effect till 5 p.m., but the worst was over by 1 p.m., although light rain could continue overnight, said meteorologist Jim Eberwine of the National Weather Service in Mount Holly.

By early afternoon, two inches had fallen in Delaware County, 2.25 inches in Bucks County and 2.5 inches in parts of North Jersey, he said.

Columbus Boulevard at Spring Garden Street and Camden's Admiral Wilson Boulevard were closed this morning because of high water.

More than 70,000 PECO customers lost power at some point during the storm, with Delaware and Chester Counties hardest hit, according to spokesman Ben Armstrong.

Lower Merion, Concordville, Middletown Township, Upper and Lower Makefield, South Philadelphia, Haverford, Radnor, Tredyffrin and Spring City had some of the biggest outages.

Gloucester County College in Deptford canceled classes for the day and tonight because of a power outage that affected a large part of the township. PSE&G reported about 4,000 outages in South Jersey.

Among Traffic.com's alerts for motorists: downed trees in Lower Merion, Plymouth Township and Willistown; downed poles in Upper Providence, Schwenksville and Edgewater Park; and downed wires in Bensalem, Upper Chicester and Northampton.

Gusts - which hit 62 m.p.h. about 9:30 a.m. at Philadelphia International Airport, according to Eberwine - may have contributed to the overturning of a tractor trailer on the Walt Whitman Bridge, and the jackknifing of another on I-76 near City Avenue.

After the accident closed lanes on the Whitman, the Delaware River Port Authority banned trucks on that bridge as well as the Commodore Barry and Betsy Ross Bridges, because of high winds.

Dozens of arriving flights at Philadelphia International Airport were delayed more than an hour, partly because of conditions in other cities.

The New Jersey Turnpike banned motorcycles and pulled trailers in South Jersey.

The threatened thunderstorms didn't materialize much around Philadelphia, although some cells did appear in Cecil County, Md., and Cape May County.

Unseasonably warm temperatures reached 61 shortly before 1 p.m. - short of the record high of 66, set in 1967.

Tomorrow and Wednesday should be precipitation-free, with highs in the 40s and lows in the upper 20s - slightly above normal for this time of year.

Snow is possible Thursday morning (followed by rain) and again on Friday night into Saturday, but the chance is only 30 percent, according to the National Weather Service.

For more on the forecast, go to http://go.philly.com/weather. Enter a town name or zipcode to chance the focus of the forecast.