Editor’s note: This post has been updated with new information from regional and state police.
Over 37,000 Lehigh Valley and northwest Jersey residents remained without power Thursday morning after strong, gusty winds and downpours Wednesday evening took down trees and limbs and knocked out utility lines across the region.
The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the area Wednesday evening. AccuWeather.com radar showed the band of severe storms cross the Bethlehem area shortly after 7 p.m.
As of 7:45 a.m. Thursday, PPL Electric Utilities was reporting 7,829 Northampton County residents still without power, with the majority of customers living in Lower Saucon Township (4,056) and Bethlehem (3,149). Another 8,195 were without power in Lehigh County, with the majority in Bethlehem (4,263); and Lower Macungie (1,925).
PPL spokeswoman Tracie Witter told lehighvalleylive.com all of Catasauqua; the Westgate Hills area of Bethlehem, Lehigh County; and west toward Orefield were “hit pretty hard.” The majority of folks are expected to have power restored by 3 p.m. Thursday, Witter said.
PPL had a total of 100,000 of its customers out in its territory by 8 p.m. Wednesday. By Thursday morning, that total dwindled to 48,835.
“So our crews worked diligently over night to restore power to our customers,” Witter said, noting 600 field workers were brought in to assist PPL’s teams.
Witter said hundreds of workers were expected to be on all day Thursday, providing both field-based and back-office emergency response operations across PPL’s service territory. The roster includes lineworkers, foresters, damage assessors and call center staff.
Met-Ed, a FirstEnergy Corp. company, was reporting 14,193 customers without power, with the majority in Easton (4,908); Williams Township (1,190); and Wilson Borough (1,121). In Lehigh County, 475 remain without power.
Met-Ed spokesman Todd Meyers told lehighvalleylive.com crews worked overnight to restore the majority of customers and will be working 16 hours on, eight hours off until everyone is restored.
JCP&L, another FirstEnergy company, had 6,795 residents without power in Warren County as of 8 a.m.. The majority live in Knowlton Township (1,217).
The utility companies reported all the outages were caused by storms. The public is being urged to stay away from any downed wires.
Meyers said because trees could break wires and bring them to the ground, folks should always assume wires are energized and stay at least 30 feet away — about the length of a school bus.
“They can be deadly without sparking, smoking or sizzling,” Meyers said.
Pennsylvania State Police troopers responded to numerous calls for trees blocking the roads, alarms caused by power outages and vehicle crashes during and after Wednesday’s storm, Trooper Nathan Branosky, public information officer for Troop M in Bethlehem, told lehighvalleylive.com.
Bethlehem police Capt. Nicholas Lechman told lehighvalleylive.com his department also fielded a significant amount of storm-related calls, mostly related to downed trees, utility lines and power outages. Several traffic signals remain out throughout the city. Drivers to use caution and expect travel times to be higher than usual, he said.
Additionally, City Hall lost power for most of Thursday morning. A sign was posted on the front door announcing the closure. Around 10:15 a.m., Lechman said power was restored to the building and some city workers were expected to return to business.
Power outages caused by Wednesday’s powerful storms forced the cancellation of a public hearing Thursday morning in Bethlehem for the re-licensing of the Wind Creek Bethlehem casino.
In Easton, police Capt. Salvatore Crisafulli told lehighvalleylive.com officers’ call volume was steady during and after the storm. City public works crews worked on clearing downed trees. In Allentown, police Capt. Kyle Pammer said his department dealt with about a dozen storm-related calls.
“(There was) nothing of a serious nature that resulted in substantial road closures or businesses being closed,” Pammer said.
In New Jersey, Wednesday night’s storm proved deadly as a 30-year-old man was killed when a large tree in his backyard fell on him in East Orange, lehighvalleylive.com sister site nj.com reported.
Several local roadways remain shut down across the region. PennDOT’s traffic website, 511pa.com, on Thursday morning reported closure affecting:
- Raubsville Road — between Morgan Hill Road and Flafair Drive — in Williams Township.
- Freemansburg Avenue— between Fifth and Sixth streets — Bethlehem Township.
- Jacobsburg Road — between Belfast and Sexton Roads — in Bushkill Township.
- Wood Avenue north — between Wood and Chief Tatamy streets — in Tatamy Borough.
- Main Street — between Monocacy Avenue and Fifth Street — in Chapman Borough.
- Brookside Road — between Indian Creek Road and Sauerkraut Lane — in Lower Macungie Township.
- Shankweiler Road — between Coffeetown Road and Cedar Crest Boulevard — in North Whitehall Township.
Utility crews, however, might get some relief from the stormy conditions Thursday and Friday.
Thursday’s forecast calls for mostly sunny skies and a seasonable high temperature of around 84 degrees, according to both the weather service and AccuWeather. The weather service predicts mostly clear skies with a low temperature around 55 degrees for Thursday night.
Similar weather is on tap for Friday, with both weather agencies calling for sunny skies with a high temperature near 82 degrees.
The next chance for rain comes Friday evening into Saturday when temps are forecast to fall to a low around 62 degrees, both weather agencies say. There’s a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms, but mainly after 2 a.m. Saturday in the Lehigh Valley, according to the weather service. The chance of precipitation is 20%.
More rain is in the forecast for Saturday and Sunday, both weather agencies say. The weather service predicts showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 2 p.m. It’ll be mostly cloudy, with a high temperature near 84 degrees, according to both weather agencies. The chance of precipitation is 60% with new rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms, the weather service says.
Saturday evening is expected to fall to a low temperature around 73 degrees with more showers and thunderstorms expected, mainly before 2 a.m. Sunday. The chance of precipitation is 80% with new rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible, the weather service says.
Sunday calls for a chance of showers and thunderstorms, with a high temperature near 88 degrees, both weather agencies predict. The chance of precipitation is 30%, the weather service says.
The National Weather Service recorded 0.6 of an inch of rain Wednesday at its climate station at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Hanover Township, Lehigh County, just outside Allentown.
With June coming to a close, the official Lehigh Valley precipitation tally for the month of 1.32 inches was 2.47 inches below normal. For the year through Wednesday, 24.44 inches of precipitation had fallen, which is 3.63 inches above normal.
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Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com.
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