Tens of thousands of residents remain without power Sunday and could remain in the dark for several days as utility crews rush to repair what they say is one of the worst storms to hit the area in the past 20 years.
At the peak of the outages Sunday afternoon, about 53,000 Met-Ed and PPL customers in Monroe and Pike counties were without power. By 5 p.m., that number dropped to 40,000.
“We are looking at a multiple day restoration process,” said PPL Electric Utilities spokesman Kurt Blumenau. “We are also not issuing localized restoration times because we are still getting our arms around how much damage is out there.”
At 10 a.m., about 200,000 PPL customers were without power throughout the company's 29-county service territory, including more than 25,000 customers in Lancaster and Berks counties and more than 17,000 in the Harrisburg and Cumberland Valley area.
In a statement, PPL said Irene will rank among one of the worst storms to hit its service area in the past 20 years.
Met-Ed had more than 150,000 residents across Pennsylvania without power Sunday afternoon.
“Since the winds are still kicking up, the potential for additional outages remains, but we have more than 3,000 people out working to restore power in Pennsylvania and New Jersey,” said Met-Ed spokesman Scott Surgeoner.
Conditions like downed trees and overflowing streams and creeks made it impossible for utilities crews to quickly reach some areas, Surgeoner said.
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