Power crews work to restore power to thousands as next storm nears

Crews in Bethel Park were hard at work Friday morning, clearing debris on Kings School Road West after a tree fell during Thursday’s storm, which forced the roadway to close and left thousands of residents without power.For the second day in a row, storms have caused significant damage in the Pittsburgh area, knocking down trees and power lines and leaving thousands in the dark for hours. Officials with West Penn Power said their crews have been working nonstop to restore power to affected customers. “They are addressing hundreds of damage locations and are working as quickly as possible to restore that. We do expect to get estimated restoration times for those customers by the end of today, as they complete those damage assessments,” said Bridget McNie of West Penn Power. McNie explained that the damage caused by the storms has been complex and can take time. “We have been dealing with a lot of complex, widespread damage. So downed trees, broken poles, damaged service lines. Those are really complex situations for us to address. And we want to do that as safely and as quickly as possible,” McNie said. With another round of potential storms on the way for Friday, McNie said the company is prepared to make adjustments to ensure it can respond effectively. “We will look at how many we have, who we need to bring in. We will adjust planned non-essential work and, and postpone that, especially in areas where we might get conditions to ensure that we have the right people and the right crews in place to respond,” McNie said.To take a look at the current outages, click the links below:Duquesne Light: Outage MapWest Penn Power: FirstEnergy Storm Center PA

PITTSBURGH —

Crews in Bethel Park were hard at work Friday morning, clearing debris on Kings School Road West after a tree fell during Thursday’s storm, which forced the roadway to close and left thousands of residents without power.

For the second day in a row, storms have caused significant damage in the Pittsburgh area, knocking down trees and power lines and leaving thousands in the dark for hours.

Officials with West Penn Power said their crews have been working nonstop to restore power to affected customers.

“They are addressing hundreds of damage locations and are working as quickly as possible to restore that. We do expect to get estimated restoration times for those customers by the end of today, as they complete those damage assessments,” said Bridget McNie of West Penn Power.

McNie explained that the damage caused by the storms has been complex and can take time.

“We have been dealing with a lot of complex, widespread damage. So downed trees, broken poles, damaged service lines. Those are really complex situations for us to address. And we want to do that as safely and as quickly as possible,” McNie said.

With another round of potential storms on the way for Friday, McNie said the company is prepared to make adjustments to ensure it can respond effectively.

“We will look at how many we have, who we need to bring in. We will adjust planned non-essential work and, and postpone that, especially in areas where we might get conditions to ensure that we have the right people and the right crews in place to respond,” McNie said.

To take a look at the current outages, click the links below:

Duquesne Light: Outage Map
West Penn Power: FirstEnergy Storm Center PA