Delaware Electric Co-operative restoring power to residents after storm

Delaware Electric Co-operative says that they are working to bring back power to nearly all members and that they are working to clean up potential tornado damage at their headquarters in Greenwood on Tuesday morning.

Crews with Delaware Electric Co-operative have restored power to almost every home and business affected by Monday night's severe storms. As of 9:00 a.m., officials say that only three homes were without power in the Co-op's service territory.

At the peak of the storm on Monday night, almost 2,000 homes were in the dark. Crews worked all night to bring back power- total restoration is expected by 10:00 am on Tuesday.

Co-op officials say that they are also examining damage to several buildings at its headquarters along Route 13 in Greenwood. High winds linked with a severe storm on Monday night heavily damaged a building used to house electrical equipment. Two construction trailers were also blown over, along with several trees and a large fence.

Sussex County was reportedly under a tornado warning when the storm hit, The National Weather Service will be on site on Tuesday investigating whether the damage at D.E.C. and across western Sussex County resulted for a tornado or straight line winds.

Delaware Electric Co-operative President and CEO Bill Andrew says, "We are thankful no one was injured during the storm and are lucky the winds struck after normal working hours. The area damaged would have been full of workers during the day. If the storm had hit at 4:00 p.m. instead of 6:15 p.m., employees could have been injured or killed. We'd also like to thank members for their patience as we worked to restore power. The damage to our property did not impact our restoration efforts."