Jun 7, 2002
PPL Electric Utilities Crews Continue Cleanup from Storm
PRNewswire
ALLENTOWN, Pa.
Line crews and support personnel from PPL Electric Utilities worked through the night to restore service to customers without power after waves of strong storms passed through central and eastern Pennsylvania Thursday night (6/6).
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19981015/PHTH025 )
It was the second major storm to hit the region in the past two days. Since Wednesday night (6/5), crews have restored service to 50,000 customers. As of 7 a.m., about 8,400 customers are without power, most in western and southern Lancaster County, areas that saw wind gusts of 50 to 60 miles per hour during last night's storm.
"We experienced significant damage from tree limbs falling across power lines," said Robert M. Geneczko, vice president of Support Services for PPL Electric Utilities. "We trim trees continually in rights of way around power lines to minimize outages, but much of the damage in the past two days was caused by trees outside of the trimming zone."
He said PPL employees continue assessing the full extent of the damage, especially in rural areas of Lancaster County, and the company has sent line crews from areas with little storm damage to help speed the recovery effort in the Lancaster area.
All customers affected by the storm are expected to be back in service by Friday evening.
"Crews have responded to hundreds of damage reports across the service area," Geneczko said. "We appreciate the patience of customers as we repair the damage caused, and will be calling some customers in the hardest hit areas to keep them apprised of the restoration efforts."
The storm has resulted in a number of downed electrical wires. PPL Electric Utilities cautions people not to go near or drive over wires on the ground. Customers should report outages and downed wires by calling toll-free 1-800-342-5775 (1-800 DIAL PPL).
PPL Electric Utilities, a subsidiary of PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL), serves 1.3 million customers in eastern and central Pennsylvania. PPL Corporation, headquartered in Allentown, Pa., controls or owns more than 10,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the United States, sells energy in key U.S. markets, and delivers electricity to nearly 6 million customers in Pennsylvania, the United Kingdom and Latin America.
Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19981015/PHTH025
PRN Photo Desk, 888-776-6555 or 212-782-2840
SOURCE: PPL Electric Utilities
CONTACT: George Lewis of PPL, +1-610-774-5997, or fax, +1-610-774-5281
Web site: http://www.pplweb.com/
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