Bucks County Issues Emergency Declaration

The Bucks County Commissioners declared a state of emergency Saturday night due to serious flooding along the Neshaminy Creek and Delaware River caused by Hurricane Irene.

According to a press release, by declaring an emergency, the county joins a Pennsylvania state declaration and seeks potential federal aid.

In addition, several local municipalities already have declared emergencies, including Nockamixon Township, , Northampton Township, Bridgeton Township, Bristol Borough, Warminster Township, Warwick Township, Wrightstown Township, Perkasie Borough and Plumstead Township.

The Commissioners and the Bucks County Emergency Management Agency activated the Bucks County Emergency Operations Center [EOC] on Saturday, August 27 at 8 p.m. Representatives from multiple response agencies, including the American Red Cross, the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency [PEMA], the Bucks County Fire Marshal and Hazardous Incident Response Team [H.I.R.T.], the National Guard, county Emergency Medical Health and PECO were on hand to coordinate response to the hurricane, as stated in the release.

According to PECO, 12,428 households in Bucks County were without power as of 9:45 p.m. Saturday – not all of which were directly storm related. By 1:30 a.m., that number had risen to almost 57,000, the release stated. 

Bucks County EMA continues to ask all residents to refrain from calling 911, unless they need fire, police or EMS assistance for life-threatening injuries. Questions should be directed to the Emergency Operations Center, Public Information line at 215-340-8743. Power outages should be reported to PECO at 1-800-841-4141 or PPL at 1-800-342-5775.