Sep 22, 2003
Overnight Work Pushes Restoration Numbers to 98 Percent
PRNewswire
ALLENTOWN, Pa.
An update on current power outages from Tropical Storm Isabel.
Situation: After another night of around the clock shift work, PPL Electric Utilities continues to push toward complete restoration of its customers following the most damaging storm in the company's history. More than 1,500 PPL Electric Utilities' employees, with help from as far away as Iowa and Canada, have now restored service to nearly 98 percent of the customers affected by Tropical Storm Isabel. John Sipics, president of PPL Electric Utilities, said last night that this was the "largest restoration effort in the company's history." More than 500 PPL and contract line crews will continue working 16-hour shifts until power is returned to the remaining 10,000 customers. A storm event is considered large if it causes more than 1,000 individual cases of necessary system repairs. The number of jobs required to repair Isabel's damage is about 4,000. Est. Restoration Times by Region: -- Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Region: Restored -- Lehigh Region (including Bethlehem, Allentown): Restored -- Bucks and Montgomery Region: Restored -- Pocono Region (including Monroe, Pike, and Wayne counties): This afternoon -- Hazleton/Carbon County Region: This morning -- Schuylkill County Region: This evening -- Susquehanna Region (including Lycoming, Snyder, Northumberland, Montour, Columbia, and Clinton counties): This evening -- Harrisburg Region (including Dauphin, Cumberland, Juniata and Perry counties): Late this evening -- Lancaster Region (including York, Berks, Chester and Lebanon counties): Late Tuesday night It is important to remember that these are estimated restoration times. Most customers are expected to be back in service earlier than this forecast. However, a few scattered customers could receive power later than this forecast. Customers Restored: More than 465,000 as of 4:30 a.m. EDT Monday (9/22) Customers Without Power: 10,000 as of 4:30 a.m. EDT Monday (9/22) Affected Areas: Isabel affected the entire 29-county service area of PPL Electric Utilities with downed lines and power outages. The hardest hit areas were in the Harrisburg and Lancaster regions followed by Schuylkill County. Number of Repairs Pending: 1044 Cause of Outages: Most of the damage from Isabel's tropical-storm-force winds resulted from broken tree limbs and falling trees from outside the utility right of way around power lines where PPL Electric Utilities prunes trees. Additional Information: Outage figures are updated continuously on PPL's news media Web site: www.pplnewsroom.com. The Web site also lists contact information for each part of the company's service area. Customers should call PPL Electric Utilities' toll free number, 800-342-5775 (800-DIAL PPL) to report outages, fallen wires or special needs. Because so many of the outages are the result of fallen trees and tree limbs, in some places wires are on the ground. People should stay far away from fallen wires, even if they appear to be "dead." Call PPL Electric Utilities or 911 immediately.
SOURCE: PPL Corporation
CONTACT: Andy Hallmark of PPL Corporation, +1-610-774-5997, or fax,
+1-610-774-5281
Web site: http://www.pplweb.com/
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