Tropical Storm Isabel produced strong power outage producing winds, moderate tidal flooding along the Delaware River and stream flooding in Chester County. m.
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Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS PHI wrote it up.
Tropical Storm Isabel produced strong power outage producing winds, moderate tidal flooding along the Delaware River and stream flooding in Chester County. Isabel made landfall as a hurricane near Drum Inlet, North Carolina around 100 p.m. EDT on the 18th and weakened as it tracked farther inland. At one time in its life cycle, it was a powerful Category 5 hurricane when it was north of the Leewood Islands. Winds gusted up to 60 mph in Eastern Pennsylvania and downed countless numbers of trees, tree limbs and power lines. It was the worst outage on record for PECO Energy in southeastern Pennsylvania. About 572,425 of its customers lost power. This exceeded the outages that occurred during the ice storm of January 1994. PECO Energy estimated it would cost at least $20 million dollars for it to install about 81 miles of new cable and install about 7,600 new fuses and circuit breakers. The large number of outages was not confined to the southeast part of the state. In Berks County, about 45,000 homes and business lost power. About sixty percent of Metropolitan Edison's 500,000 customers (including Berks County and the Lehigh Valley) lost power from 11,000 separate trouble spots. Pennsylvania Power and Light reported about 500,000 of its customers (including the Lehigh Valley and the Poconos) lost power. This broke their previous record during Tropical Storm Floyd by 150,000. Isabel's track took into western Pennsylvania and was able to funnel water into Delaware River and Bay. Moderate tidal flooding occurred. In Philadelphia, the tide crested at 9.47 feet above mean lower low water. The storm surge was 5.43 feet. The rain was not heavy and the only reported gaged stream flooding was in Chester County. The heaviest rain with tropical systems often falls west of its storm track, thus the region was spared from the heavier rain. Peak wind gusts included 60 mph in Forks Township (Northampton County), 49 at the Philadelphia International Airport and the Reading Regional Airport (Berks County), 47 mph at the Lehigh Valley International Airport and 46 mph at the Pocono Mountains Regional Airport (Monroe County). The Valley Creek at Valley Forge (Chester County) was above its 7 foot flood stage from 220 a.m. through 251 a.m. EDT on the 19th and crested at 7.26 feet at 230 a.m. EDT. Storm totals included 1.50 inches in Valley Forge (Chester County), 1.35 inches in Glenmoore (Chester County), 1.16 inches at the Lehigh Valley International Airport, 1.14 inches at the Philadelphia International Airport and 0.81 inches in Mount Pocono (Monroe County).
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Philadelphia/Mount Holly wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 18, 4:00 PM EST, 0 minutes earlier.
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</html>DEZ001>004-MDZ008-012-015-019-020-NJZ001-007>010-012>027-PAZ054-055- 060>062-067>071-181200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ 535 AM EDT THU SEP 18 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA...DELAWARE...THE NORTHERN MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE...AND NEW JERSEY EXCLUDING THE FIVE NORTHEAST COUNTIES. .DAY ONE...TODAY THE PRIMARY IMPACTS OF HURRICANE ISABEL WILL BE FELT WELL TO THE SOUTH AND WEST OF THIS REGION. HOWEVER SECONDARY EFFECTS OF WIND...RAIN AND TIDE WILL AFFECT THE AREA LATE TODAY INTO EARLY FRIDAY. THERE IS ALSO A HIGH RISK OF RIP CURRENTS TODAY. PLEASE SEE THE ADVISORIES FROM THE TROPICAL PREDICTION CENTER FOR THE LATEST INFORMATION ON HURRICANE ISABEL. SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NECESSARY LATER TODAY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY RIP CURRENTS WILL CONTINUE TO BE A THREAT FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS. EBERWINE
The Philadelphia radar (KDIX), 139 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:59 UTC.
10 high wind, 3 storm surge/tide, 1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Pennsylvania in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Pennsylvania, September 2003The 2003 hurricane season
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5336705, 5336706, 5336707, 5336708, 5336709, 5336710, 5336711, 5336712, 5336713, 5336714, 5336715, 5336716, 5336717, 5336718.