A fast-moving thunderstorm barreled through Carbon County and neighboring parts of the Lehigh Valley shortly before 7 p.m. Friday, snapping large branches and dropping trees across roads and power lines. Fire and police crews spent the evening shutting down affected streets and clearing debris while utility workers fanned out to survey the damage. Thousands of residents were left in the dark into the night as power restoration slowly got underway.
PPL reported roughly 43,000 customers without electricity after the storm, including about 3,400 outages in Carbon County, 8,500 in Monroe County, 4,400 in Lehigh County and more than 3,000 outages each in Northampton and Schuylkill counties, according to Times News. Officials noted that those figures were an early snapshot while crews were still scrambling across multiple service areas.
The National Weather Service Mount Holly office logged a flurry of local storm reports and issued severe thunderstorm statements as the line pushed east. Preliminary reports listed radar-indicated strong wind gusts along with a trail of tree and wire damage across eastern Pennsylvania, according to the National Weather Service.
Where Trees Fell And Lights Went Out
Local fire departments in Franklin Township and Lehighton reported several large trees down, and a contributed photo in regional coverage shows a tree that came down on wires along Main Road in Franklin Township, cutting power to nearby homes, according to Times News. Storm spotter feeds and mapping services piled up dozens of similar reports in Monroe, Lehigh and Northampton counties, underscoring how widespread the damage was.
Crews Race To Restore Power
PPL Electric Utilities said crews were being dispatched throughout its service territory and urged customers to report outages through its online outage page or by calling 1-800-342-5775. The company also posted guidance on staying safe around downed lines and preparing for extended outages. Outage trackers showed thousands of customers still offline into Saturday morning as repair teams focused first on dangerous downed wires and damaged equipment across central and eastern Pennsylvania, according to data from PowerOutage.us.
What Residents Need To Know
Officials are reminding residents to stay well away from any downed wires and to assume they are energized, and to report hazards both to emergency services and to their utility. Anyone using a portable generator should run it outdoors and keep a working carbon monoxide alarm, since federal preparedness guidance notes that CO risks spike after outages. Neighbors are also urged to check in on older adults and people who depend on electrically powered medical devices, according to Ready.gov.
