Power Cut to 1,700 When Car Hits Pole

As many as 1,700 PPL customers lost power after a car struck a utility pole Tuesday morning at Mauch Chunk Road and Brown Street.

Update at 5:45 p.m. As many was 1,700 PPL customers lost electrical power Tuesday morning after a car struck a utility pole in the 1800 of Mauch Chunk Road. Power was restored to all but 11 customers by 5:45 p.m., according to PPL. The driver, who was injured, was identified as Gam Le, 33, of Whitehall, according to South Whitehall Township Police. Original story: As many was 1,700 PPL customers lost electrical power Tuesday morning after a car struck a utility pole at Mauch Chunk Road and Brown Street. Officials closed Mauch Chunk Road between Evangate Drive and Scherersville Road, north of Brown Street, shortly after the 5:30 a.m. accident, according to WFMZ. Power was restored to all but 70 customers by 1:30 p.m., according to PPL.

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PPL Staging Area a Home Away from Home for Contractors

PPL hopes to restore power for up to 85 percent of customers by Friday night, thanks in part to new PPL best practices.

  There are 500 beds set up in 15 tractor trailers warmed by giant generators. A dining hall that might not be as nice as Harry Potter's Hogwarts but is almost as big and able to accommodate 500 contractors is stationed at PPL's Hurricane Sandy staging area at Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom. This temporary command post stems from new PPL Corp. "best practices" that are helping organizers gain two hours of productivity from each 12-hour shift the restoration-response team works. The streamlined restoration efforts are surely part of the reason PPL Regional Community Relations Director Melinda Stumpf has updated power restoration estimates to Friday night -- rather than the previous target of Sunday, Nov. 4. "We hope to have 80 to 85 …

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slyfox

8:48 am on Monday, November 5, 2012

Hi Gerry - good for you that your power was back on Friday. Very nice. However, those "convoys" you mention didn't do a damn thing but drive on by. If they passed a pole & lines that were down they kept on driving past. I saw them. I even tried to stop some & talk to them but they totally ignored me and never even looked my way - they knew I was there. PPL will certainly recoop their costs for …   more ›

Mountain View

What's Your "War Story" Now That the Storm is Over?

The "Powerless People" have survived. Primitive conditions conjure creativity and perseverance among Lehigh Valley residents.

Here we are facing yet another catastrophic event in the history of the Lehigh Valley. If it’s not earthquakes and hurricanes, it’s an unprecedented October snowfall cutting power to approximately 300,000 customers throughout the region for days. The snow began to fall Saturday morning and continued through the night. As I watched it accumulating on our newly planted trees, I became distressed. For two years we’ve nurtured those maples, cherries, oaks, sweet gums, blueberry and lilac bushes, and one silly storm wasn’t going to take them from me. My kids and husband thought I was losing my mind as I rushed out every couple of hours to "shake the trees." They laughed and teased me, but in the end they called me the “Tree Savior.” I’m happy …

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KitKat

10:53 pm on Thursday, November 3, 2011

Jenae forgot to mention... I was so sorry to hear about your fish. They are a true beauty to watch.   more ›