By Diane Petryk
SHAMOKIN DAM — At the peak of a wind-related power outage Thursday evening, 7,421 customers in Snyder, Northumberland, Union, and Montour counties were without power.
The outage closed the Susquehanna Valley Mall, Monroe Marketplace and blacked out the Golden Strip along Routes 11-15 for more than two hours. The commercial district in Kelly Township, Union County, and Derry Township in Montour County also were hit by the blackout.
After 90 minutes, power was restored to about 2,929 customers in Snyder County.
Union County experienced 812 outages, Northumberland 137, and Montour 2,049.
Lights went out along Routes 11-15 around 7 p.m. precipitating the early closings. Police responded to direct bottled-up traffic out of the shopping centers. Power was restored to the area at about 9:15 p.m. and to all but 1,500 customers in Snyder County.
PPL Electric Utilities Spokesman Teri MacBride said a major problem with transmission lines caused the outages. The first outage reports came in at 7:15 p.m., she said.
“Five crews are out,” she said at about 8:30 p.m. “They are working with power dispatchers to diagnose the problem.”
PPL spokesman Jim Nulton in Harrisburg said there was evidently a major transmission line broken that affected five substations, but the location was a mystery at 10:30 p.m.
“People think we have cameras mounted on every pole, but that is not the case,” he said. “Men are literally out in the woods on foot in the dark, with just flashlights, searching.”
The break could be anywhere within 15 or 20 miles from the Derry substation in the Washingtonville area of Montour County, he said. “It’s hard work,” he added.
He blamed high winds for the problem.
According to police scanner traffic, power was restored at the mall and vicinity by about 9 p.m., but PPL was asking police to stand-by in case the respite was only temporary.
At 10 p.m. Montour County outages remained at 2,049, mainly in Derry Township. Geisinger Medical Center’s nursing supervisor reported the facility was not affected, other than via a few employees who called in and said they had no power at home.
Evangelical Community Hospital in Kelly Township, Union County, also was not directly affected, but the outage affected the nearby McDonald’s.
