Weather service probing possible tornadoes in Chester, Lehigh

The National Weather Service is investigating whether Tuesday night's storms brought tornadoes to Chester and Lehigh counties.

The weather service is examining reports of funnel clouds and wind damage in those areas, meteorologist Walter Drag said.

The teams probing the possible tornadoes are headed to Honey Brook in Chester County and other areas.

"We know there's wind damage and significant damage to a number of neighborhoods," Drag said.

The weather service is expected to complete its assessment this afternoon.

The area was pummeled with heavy rain, strong wind and hail during the storms Tuesday.

Multiple wind gusts of more than 60 mph were recorded, including a 64 mph gust in Cedarville, Montgomery County, a 63 mph gust in West Chester and a 61 mph gust at the Lehigh Valley International Airport, according to the weather service.

Rainfall was also significant in some places, particularly in the Poconos, with parts of Monroe County receiving three to four inches.

In Philadelphia, the weather service said 1.5 inches fell at the airport, just shy of the record for the date of 1.56 inches.

The storms were strong, but didn't produce the massive power outages that resulted from thunderstorms that swept the region last week.

Utility companies were reporting fewer than 2,000 total outages in the region Wednesday morning.

Early in the day Tuesday, before the latest round of rain and wind, about 100 Atlantic City Electric customers were still lacking power from the previous week's storms. In total, last week's thunderstorms knocked out electricity for more than a half million people.