Power restored to many customers following storm
More than a thousand county residents lost electricity over the weekend after high winds knocked down power lines and poles Saturday, but by Monday afternoon, March 27, power had been restored to several hundred of them.
About 300 customers of First Energy affiliates West Penn Power and Penn Power and a handful of customers of Central Electric Cooperative still were without power around 7 p.m. Monday, and both utilities have brought in workers from other areas to help restore service.
At the peak of the outages Saturday night, more than 9,000 First Energy customers and nearly 5,000 CEC customers in Western Pennsylvania lost power after 50-mile-per-hour winds knocked down utility poles and caused trees and branches to knock down power lines.
First Energy and CEC have their local crews, their crews from unaffected areas of the state, and contractors working to restore power, according to representatives from both utilities.
In Butler County, about 840 First Energy customers, including 550 West Penn Power customers and 290 Penn Power customers, and 90 CEC customers remained without power Monday morning.
The municipalities served by West Penn Power with most outages were Donegal, Butler, Mercer, Penn, Slippery Rock, Summit and Winfield townships. Municipalities served by Penn Power with the most outages were Connoquenessing, Forward and Jackson townships. Municipalities with the most outages served by CEC included Worth and Venango townships.
The utilities asked people driving to be aware that there are crews working along roads in many locations.
Butler Area School District did not face any significant power outages over the weekend, according to superintendent Brian White. He sent a message to families of students in the district Sunday evening warning of potential hiccups to bus schedules and said he directed faculty to be flexible with homework, tests, quizzes and other schoolwork that would be difficult to complete or prepare for without power over the weekend.
White said Monday that the schools and buses were able to operate without major incidents. However, some schools had some structural damage, the most significant being Center Township Elementary, where the storm damaged a section of the roof badly enough to cause a leak.
“We're going to have to put some temporary coverings on the roof leaks,” White said Monday. “We submitted it to our insurance company; we'll also check the warranty of the roof. Between our insurance and warranties, that should cover the cost of fixing it.”
The Better Business Bureau of Western Pennsylvania on Monday advised consumers to hire with caution when it comes to repairing wind damage.
Caitlin Driscoll, public relations director of the Better Business Bureau of Western Pennsylvania, said, “severe weather events often result in unprepared homeowners being targeted by unregistered contractors who promise quick fixes.”
“Always do your research first to hire a reputable, local contractor when it comes to storm repairs and avoid cash-only deals, high upfront payments and verbal promises without a contract,” Driscoll said.
