8,000 Without Power in Armstrong County Following Winter Blast

More than 8,000 customers were still without power at 12 noon today in Armstrong County.

West Penn Power Spokesman Todd Meyers said the problem started around 9PM last night.

“(The problem) occurred pretty much over night and continued to occur this morning,” Meyers said.

“We had about a tenth of an inch of ice or more followed by several inches of very heavy granular snow. With a fair amount of leaves still on the trees, it piles up on those leaves then the trees can’t hold that weight. We have had big tree limbs down into our lines. Trees have toppled over. Part of the problem was that the wind picked up. THe ground is waterlogged. When the trees get weighted with ice and the wind starts to push, they just lose their purchase and fall over.

“The reason we have so many customers out in that area, we have some of the larger lines that feed our distribution substations that have problems. The substation that has smaller lines serving homes and businesses are dead right now because the big line that does into the substation are out.”

Meyers said some customers could be out of service as long as until Sunday. To hear the entire interview with Mr. Meyers, click here:

Outages in various municipalities as of 12 Noon Friday, November 16:
APOLLO BOROUGH - 8 of 1,475 customers
APPLEWOLD BOROUGH - Fewer than 5 of 101 customers
BETHEL TOWNSHIP - 31 of 566 customers
BOGGS TOWNSHIP - 244 of 470 customers
BRADYS BEND TOWNSHIP - 382 of 386 customers
BURRELL TOWNSHIP - 31 of 474 customers
COWANSHANNOCK TOWNSHIP - 108 of 1,358 customers
COWANSHANNOCK TOWNSHIP - 1,174 of 1,358 customers
DAYTON BOROUGH - 445 of 446 customers
EAST FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP - 411 of 1,889 customers
ELDERTON BOROUGH - Fewer than 5 of 272 customers
FORD CITY BOROUGH - 41 1,847 customers
FREEPORT BOROUGH - 5 of 1,044 customers
GILPIN TOWNSHIP - Fewer than 5 1,260 customers
HOVEY TOWNSHIP - 105 of 105 customers
KISKIMINETAS TOWNSHIP - 102 of 2,189 customers
KITTANNING BOROUGH - 224 of 2,575 customers
KITTANNING TOWNSHIP - 368 of 862 customers
LEECHBURG BOROUGH - Fewer than 5 of 1,477 customers
MADISON TOWNSHIP - 404 of 500 customers
MAHONING TOWNSHIP - 664 of 716 customers
MANOR TOWNSHIP - 9 of 2,304 customers
NORTH BUFFALO TOWNSHIP - 8 of 1,178 customers
PARKER CITY - 390 of 390 customers
PARKS TOWNSHIP - 49 of 1,694 customers
PERRY TOWNSHIP - 29 of 29 customers
PINE TOWNSHIP - 111 of 444 customers
PLUMCREEK TOWNSHIP - 65 of 705 customers
RAYBURN TOWNSHIP - 48 of 603 customers
REDBANK TOWNSHIP - 354 of 638 customers
RURAL VALLEY BOROUGH - 383 of 384 customers
SOUTH BEND TOWNSHIP - 6 of 451 customers
SOUTH BETHLEHEM BOROUGH - Fewer than 5 of 218 customers
SOUTH BUFFALO TOWNSHIP - 221 of 1,384 customers
SUGARCREEK TOWNSHIP - 19 of 53 customers
VALLEY TOWNSHIP - 260 of 636 customers
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP - 142 of 258 customers
WAYNE TOWNSHIP - 495 of 512 customers
WEST FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP - 144 of 604 customers
WORTHINGTON BOROUGH - 27 of 352 customers

For an update on outages, go to the First Energy website. Click on Armstrong County arrow on left hand side of the screen.