"The Morning Call Inc., Copyright 2002"
Date: Monday, November 12, 1990
HIGH WINDS DOWN BRANCHES; PP&L HANDLES POWER FAILURES The Morning Call
Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. called extra workers out on overtime last night to restore service to hundreds of customers throughout the Lehigh Valley who lost power after high winds brought tree branches down on lines.
PP&L spokesman Bud Hackett said in PP&L's Lehigh Division, which includes Lehigh County and portions of Northampton, Upper Bucks and Montgomery counties, there were 20 separate cases of trouble affecting 600 customers by midnight.
The trouble wasn't expected to end there, Hackett said. "The number of cases of trouble is expected to continue to rise throughout the night," he said, "because of the rate at which they've been coming in and our understanding of the weather forecast throughout the evening."
Meteorologist Charles Giannetta, who came on duty at the National Weather Service's station at Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Airport at midnight, said winds were averaging 38 mph, but a few minutes before midnight the strongest gust of the evening was measured at 60 mph. The wind started to reach gusting levels around 8:30 last night, Giannetta said.
Lehigh County emergency dispatchers said they received numerous calls about fallen wires or utility interruptions throughout the county, including the Shepherd Hills area of Lower Macungie Township, New Tripoli, at the Slatington Reservoir on Welshtown Road in Washington Township, along Old Post Road in North Whitehall Township, and in the 4200 block of Tilghman Street in South Whitehall Township, where Bell Telephone wires were across the street.
Allentown dispatchers said they received few calls of outages or other problems related to the weather in the city.
Hackett said PP&L called out between 12 and 16 two-person maintenance crews to handle problems he said were equally spread through the division and additional personnel to the customer service center to answer phone calls.
"It's a tough night, no one wants to be out there on a night like tonight," Hackett said early this morning.
Giannetta attributed the gusty weather to a cold front pushing through from Canada. "I don't think (the winds) will stay this wild," he said. The forecast called for the winds to continue at 15-25 mph, with higher gusts throughout the early morning hours and partly cloudy and cold conditions today, possibly even a few snow flurries, and a high around 40 degrees.
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"WEATHER BY GIANNETTA"