WELLSBORO - Wellsboro Electric line crews restored power Wednesday to the remaining 240 customers who lost electric service as a result of severe weather associated with Hurricane Sandy, according to Jeff Fetzer, C and T Enterprises vice president of corporate communications.
High winds and heavy rain caused numerous trees and limbs to fall onto electric lines, bringing down wires and causing widespread power outages throughout the Wellsboro Electric, Tri-County and Claverack service territories beginning Monday evening during the onslaught of the storm. At the height of the outage, more than 1,800 Wellsboro Electric customers were without service.
At 5 p.m. Tuesday, the highest concentration of outages remained in the Rattler Mountain area south of the borough. Wellsboro Electric Co. had restored electric service to all but four of its customers by 10 p.m. Tuesday.
Tri-County Rural Electric Cooperative reported that as of 4:45 p.m. Wednesday, the bulk of the remaining outages are in areas served by the cooperative's Germania substation in Potter County and Leidy substation in Clinton County.
The cooperative has restored electric service to more than 5,000 members who had lost power during the course of the storm.
Tri-County Rural Electric Cooperative reports that about 150 members remained without power as 3 p.m. Wednesday.
As of 11 a.m. Wednesday, there were also about two dozen members out of service in Lycoming County, primarily in the Brookside area, and three members without power in Bradford County near Ayers Corners.
Tri-County completed power restoration work in Tioga County on Tuesday.
Co-op officials report that restoration efforts were expected to be completed Wednesday; however, there is the potential that some members in areas hardest hit by the storm may remain without power into today.
Wellsboro Electric Co., 33 Austin St., Wellsboro, delivers electric service to more than 5,900 customers in Wellsboro Borough and Charleston, Middlebury and Delmar townships in Tioga County.
Tri-County, based in Mansfield, provides electricity to more than 18,000 consumer-members in Bradford, Tioga, Potter, Lycoming, McKean, Cameron and Clinton counties. The public is urged to stay away from downed power lines. Fallen lines may still be energized and should not be touched. To report downed lines or outages, call Wellsboro Electric at 724-3516 or 724-3516.
All roads in Tioga County are open, according to Mark Foust, maintenance manager of the state Department of Transportation office in Wellsboro.
Foust said there are only two lane restrictions.
One is along Route 6, east of Route 549 in Richmond Township, where a pipe under the road seperated, causing the shoulder and part of the western lane to break away. That section of road is being controlled by flaggers.
The second is the bridge carrying West Hill Road traffic over the Tioga River in Covinton reduced to a single lane "as a safety precaution."
Foust said drivers should still be wary of small debris in roadways such as leaves and small branches. He said flooding was not an issue and that water was receding Tuesday morning.
For updated road conditions, call PennDOT at 1-800-349-7623 or the Wellsboro office at 724-4142.
