Electric utilities and nuclear power plants in the mid-Atlantic area braced for widespread power outages from Hurricane Irene which some warned could cause more power disruption than any previous storm.

“This could be the worst storm we have ever seen,” said Karen Muldoon Geus, a spokeswoman for PECO, which supplies power to 1.6 million residential and commercial power customers in five counties in and around Philadelphia where the storm is expected to hit late Saturday and into Sunday. Keep reading →