Over 3,000 Lehigh Valley households and buildings were left without power as a result of intense winds that hit the region on Sunday.
Wind gusts forecasted as high as 60 mph swept through the area beginning Sunday afternoon, causing downed power lines and other damage to infrastructure. The Lehigh Valley remains on a High Wind Warning until Monday at 6:00 PM, according to the National Weather Service's Philadelphia/Mount Holly office.
PPL has provided a power outage map for residents to check on the status of outages and when the company expects repair work to be completed. PPL customers can report outages at the company's website.
"Our crews are staged at Dorney Park, Hersheypark, the Bloomsburg Fairgrounds and Kalahari Resort, and are ready to respond to any outages that may occur due to today's high winds," PPL said in a social media post Sunday afternoon.
Dorney Park's Facebook page shared the image of the utility provider's trucks staged in their parking lot, with an accompanying message of gratitude. "We’re thankful for the men and women who keep the lights on," the post said.
As of Sunday night, over 11,000 power outages were being reported by PPL across their entire service area throughout the Commonwealth.
"Our crews are staged at Dorney Park, Hersheypark, the Bloomsburg Fairgrounds and Kalahari Resort, and are ready to respond to any outages that may occur due to today's high wind."PPL statement on Sunday afternoon
According to PPL's website, the company follows a restoration process following widespread outages. "First, we restore power to critical public facilities, like hospitals, that serve the general public in emergencies. Then, we focus on major power lines and substations, using smart grid technology to reroute power until more difficult repairs can be made."
When it comes to individual homes and businesses that do not fall into the critical public facility category, the company says it prioritizes repairs that will restore power to the largest number of customers and then smaller neighborhoods, individual homes, and businesses.
