Mayor Nutter, Gov. Corbett and More Thank Volunteers and Residents

The sun was shining brightly as a signifier that  was over as Mayor Michael Nutter (D), Gov. Tom Corbett (R) and a handful of other local officials gathered for a press conference in East Falls Sunday evening.

If it wasn’t for the Schuylkill River still overflowing above Kelly Drive, you might not have known the storm took place at all. Nutter and Corbett thanked police, PECO employees and clean-up crews for the hours of work they had put in during and after the hurricane.

“PECO really has been kicking it out, with about 4,000 people on the ground," throughout the state, he said. "They brought people in days ago to get ready for this event. They’ve been turning that service back on throughout the day."

He added that there are still some heavy winds, and more trees might go down through the night.

“Trees are still going down and knocking others out of service. They will get to you, it may take a little while, but they are doing everything possible,” Nutter said.

Corbett thanked the National Guard, who came to help the city and surrounding counties while it was under a . Approximately, 1,600 troops were activated statewide.

“A lot of these men and women are out there today have also served over in Iraq and Afghanistan. They’re really truly somewhat volunteers,” the governor said. “And from across the state, you have volunteers that came here to Philadelphia and went over to Allentown and Bucks County and Wyoming County. The vast majority of people who are working as rescue people are volunteers and I think we all need to give them a round of applause and thanks for what they do.”

The officials at the conference, including Reps. Chaka Fattah (D-Philadelphia) and Allyson Schwartz (D-Montgomery) also thanked workers and volunteers, but pointed out that there are still some places that are recovering. Main Street in Manayunk, Kelly Drive and parts of Northeast Philadelphia are still seeing flooding, as are river communities in Montgomery and Chester counties. Many Pennsylvanians evacuated still cannot return home or are without power.

Earlier in the day, Corbett told reporters in Harrisburg that he asked President Barack Obama to declare an emergency in the state, and specifically in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lehigh, Montgomery, Northhampton and Philadelphia counties, among others, according to ABC27.com.

There was a silver lining in the few clouds left over Philadelphia Sunday evening. The city's operations were set to return to normal. Regionally, SEPTA will be nearly at full tilt Monday, as well, with most regional rail lines operating.