A large electric transformer crashed down on the unit block of West Walnut Lane June 29th, 2025 during a thunderstorm. The storm was marked by the sudden onset of very strong winds. The storm also took down a huge coffeetree farther down the street, taking down the utility lines and leaving residents without electric power for days during a pre-summer heat wave. Donna Di Giacomo had heard what she thought was a loud thunderclap. But then a neighbor asked her if she had looked outside her house.
The morning after the storm, Di Giacomo was surveying the transformer, still attached to a short sheared off piece of the wooden utility pole as a couple electric company (PECO) workers stopped by to inspect the fallen equipment. The relatively new wooden pole was slanting at about the same [8 degree] angle, perhaps slightly less before the storm, said Di Giacomo who added that the older pole it replaced was slanted as well.
Your correspondent suspects that the center of gravity of the transformer of the off-kilter pole was not directly over the base of the pole, making it more likely to fall if subjected to particularly strong gusts.
