Utility crews have been responding to power outages across the region, working to identify the cause and restore electricity to affected homes and businesses.<\/p>\n
Officials with Penelec say outages can be caused by a variety of issues, including downed lines, equipment failures or weather-related damage.<\/p>\n
Homeowners, crews begin clean-up effort following extreme winds <\/a><\/p>\n Will Boyle, the Senior Communications Representative for First Energy, said most electricity issues are due to wind.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s these high winds, they can be damaging because they bring down trees and branches on our lines, on our equipment. And that\u2019s the main culprit, that\u2019s what really the main source of outages during severe weather,\u201d Boyle told us.<\/p>\n Tim May, a Harborcreek supervisor, said the area of Harborcreek was due to trees falling on lines.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe it\u2019s pretty much associated with the downed trees. I mean, there is definitely a few areas that you know there have been large maples that have come down across roads and onto the power lines,\u201d May said.<\/p>\n Erie\u2019s Forever Curious Festival sparks joy among older adults <\/a><\/p>\n Crews say restoring power can take time, especially in areas where the damage was more severe, such as Harborcreek, where gusts reached over 60 miles an hour.<\/p>\n \u201cThe lakeshore is where most of the damage has been, really. That\u2019s where the larger trees have been down, and we\u2019re just addressing calls as they come in, started for us about 11:30 last night, but we\u2019re keeping in touch with our three local volunteer fire departments,\u201d May said.<\/p>\n Because Penelec knew the situation could be rough beforehand, the company brought in 3,000 outside line workers to help in the affected areas.<\/p>\n As a result, most counties are now down to 2% or less for the percentage of places without electricity.<\/p>\n