The number of people without power caused by downed trees and wires in Hurricane Sandy's wake in northcentral Pennsylvania has dropped considerably since Tuesday, according to PPL Electric Utilities.
In Lycoming County, the utility reported that 273 customers remained without power late Wednesday afternoon. Many of those were in Watson Township, where 76 PPL customers had no electricity.
Allen D. Green, township secretary/treasurer, said his power came back around 10 p.m. last night after 26 hours without it.
"The power goes off up here all the time," he said.
Green said a tree across the road on Route 44 near the Pine Creek Inn may have been the cause of the township's power outage.
At about 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, 112 PPL customers were reported without power in Jordan Township. Piatt Township, which had about 750 households without power Tuesday, was down to 20 Wednesday, according to PPL.
The state Department of Transportation said one road in Lycoming County was closed as of 1 p.m. Wednesday. Emery Church Road in Woodward Township between Pine Run Road and Chapel Hill Ridge Road was closed due to a downed tree.
In Clinton County, 89 PPL customers had no power as of late Wednesday afternoon. The bulk of those reports were in Chapman Township.
Sullivan County Rural Electric Cooperative in Forksville did not provide a total number of customers without power, but said it was continuing to work in the Huntersville, Shunk and Laporte areas.
Overall, PPL has restored more than 97,000 residents statewide with power since Tuesday, but about 250,000 customers remain in the dark.
In Lycoming County, about 8,700 customers have been restored since the storm. That number for Clinton County was about 3,200.
Teri MacBride, PPL regional community relations director, said the utility has been making progress since crews began working to restore power after the storm. She said about 40 percent of the company's customers have been affected by outages, which equals 16,000 miles of power lines.
PPL customers who are experiencing problems should call 800-342-5775 or visit www.pplelectric.com.
