2012info.ca Earth Watch

Power Outage – North-America – USA

EDIS Number: PW-20100210-24876-USA
Date / time: 10/02/2010 04:39:02 [UTC]
Event: Power Outage
Area: North-America
Country: USA
State/County: State of Pennsylvania
City: Unknow
Number of Deads: None or unknow
Number of Injured: None or unknow
Damage level: Minor

Description:

About 42,000 households and businesses in Southwestern Pennsylvania still are without electricity, four days after the weekend's paralyzing snow storm. Better news is that lights still are being turned on for the vast majority of more than 500,000 that had been knocked out. "This will break a record as the biggest outage event we've ever had," said Doug Colafella, spokesman for Allegheny Energy, which supplies electricity for most of Western Pennsylvania as well as four surrounding states. Most of those still without power are Allegheny Energy customers. Mr. Colafella said this morning 39,000 customers in this region still are without power. This includes about 22,000 who lost power yesterday after 60,000 had been reconnected, he said. Duquesne Light Co. said about 3,000 customers still were without electricity this morning. The bulk of Allegheny Energy's outages are reported in Washington County where 18,000 customers are waiting to be connected. There are 6,200 without service in Greene County, 5,600 in Fayette, 3,400 in Westmoreland and 3,400 in southern Allegheny County. Service may not be restored before tomorrow afternoon for Duquesne Light customers, company spokesman Joseph Vallarian said. As many as 57,000 Duquesne Light customers lost power after the snowstorm hit over the weekend. Mr. Vallarian said crews have found those who still are without power live mostly in places that had been inaccessible because of road conditions or rough terrain. Duquesne Light's workers have reported new cases of disruption that cannot be solved before tomorrow afternoon, he said. Mr. Colafella said the Washington County customers still suffering through the Allegheny Energy outage are losing patience. The delays cannot be helped, he said. In Washington County, crews have identified 1,200 cases of damage that are responsible for the majority of the remaining outages. Each downed limb or wire has to be removed or repaired. In each instance, Mr. Colafella said, restoration of service would be for no more than a handful of customers at a time.