Tuesday, December 13, 2011
The sheer scale of damage was to blame for widespread power outages that lasted for days after the freak snowstorm in October, Met Ed officials said.
MetEd was as prepared as it could be, but widespread damage from the snowstorm in October overwhelmed the utility provider, company officials told members of Easton City Council Tuesday night. “We already had crews from other parts of First Energy and contractors in position,” external affairs manager Marc Troutman said. “We were not taken by surprise...We more than doubled our workforce.. With the leaves still on the trees, we knew this would be a tree event.” Despite having extra crews and trucks on stand-by a day before the storm hit, the sheer number of outages, combined with other factors such as blocked roads, impeded restoring power to residents, many of who were without electric service for a week after the incident. Still, the …
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1 S 3rd St, Easton, PA
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Monday, December 12, 2011
Tuesday's city council public safety committee meeting will host officials from Met-Ed to address concerns that arose from the October snowstorm and subsequent widespread multi-day power outages.
Company officials from electric utility Met-Ed will be on hand Tuesday to answer council member questions and address concerns about issues that came up during widespread power outages around the city after the freak October snowstorm. On the agenda for the public safety committee meeting is a discussion about infrastructure and communication issues that arose during the storm. The subject will be the the city as a whole, not individual issues, though those too are being addressed, committee head Councilman Jeff Warren said via email over the weekend “We are wanting to talk about communication and infrastructure issues and how Met-Ed can do better in the future as it pertains to their service of our residents,” Warren said. Residents who …
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Easton City Hall
1 S 3rd St, Easton, PA
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Saturday, November 12, 2011
How do you feel about the utility's response to the October snowstorm?
It's been two weeks since a freak October snowstorm knocked out power to thousands of Easton residents. Earlier this week, Easton City Councilman Jeff Warren called on Met-Ed, which handles the city's electrical service, to meet with council to discuss their response to the outages. Now we want to know what you think. How long did it take to get the lights back on? Are you still cleaning up? Let us know in the comments, and take our poll.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Two thousand customers were still without power Wednesday due to freak October snowstorm.
Five days after a freak October snowstorm hit the east coast, more than 2,000 Easton area Met-Ed customers still had no electricty. First Energy, parent company to local electric provider Met-Ed, says it's the biggest disaster in the utility's history. Some residents say they're as angry with Met-Ed as they are their lack of power. Kathy Florindi, who lives on the 600 block of Ferry Street, has been without power since Saturday at 3 p.m. It's the longest time she's gone without electricity. "When Ivan came through, we lost power for three days," she said, referring to the 2004 hurricane. Florindi is one of the -- as of 5 p.m. Wednesday -- 2,029 Easton Met-Ed customers without electricity. To say that she's frustrated with the situation …
Got old branches? Here's where to get rid of them!
Good morning everyone. Here's five things to know today: 1. A lot of my readers might not have power today; word is that people who didn't lose electricity over the weekend had their power go out Tuesday, or experienced some sort of brownout. I'd like to talk to you today if that's the case. Write to me at tom.coombe@patch.com. 2. There are trees down all over the city, and it might seem like more than you can leave out for the trash. Remember: starting today at 8 a.m., you can take old branches/trees to Hackett Park, where the city has a chipper set up. 3. The city planning commission meets tonight at 6 p.m., on the sixth floor of city hall. 4. I wrote about the Nurture Nature Center last night, and we've reported on its Sphere program …
Monday, October 31, 2011
Easton shelter prepares to operate all week as residents say it could be Friday until the lights come back on.
With no light or heat, and a sister-in-law requiring oxygen, Nancy Holloway has had a pretty grim weekend since her power went out. "It's so cold, you can hardly get to sleep at night," said Holloway, a resident of Easton's West Ward. "You can't wash, you can't cook, you can't do anything." It was the same story up and down their block Monday afternoon, two days after a rare October snowstorm knocked out the electrical service for thousands of Northampton County residents. As of 4 p.m. Monday afternoon, Met-Ed listed more than 5,500 county customers without power, 3,320 in Easton. "Based on our preliminary assessment of the damage caused by the storm, we anticipate that 95% of customers without power will be restored by Friday at 11:59 PM…
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Get free water, ice at Giant and Redner's stores
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Sunday, October 30, 2011
Customers of Met-Ed who are still experiencing a power outage as a result of Saturday's snowstorm can receive two bags of ice and four gallons of water at no charge at any Giant or Redner's store in the Met-Ed service territory. Met-Ed reminds customers who have not yet reported their outage to use the automated outage reporting line – 1-888-LIGHTSS (1-888-544-4877) – to report any outages. Customers responding to downed lines are urged to follow the prompts or to report the downed lines to their local police or fire departments. Met-Ed reported more than 4,000 out of power in Easton and 400 in Nazareth as of 4 p.m. Sunday.
City has lost 1,000 trees due to heavy snowfall.
Easton Mayor Sal Panto is calling Saturday's rare October snowfall "the worst storm most people can remember." "More than 1,000 trees are no longer in our tree inventory," he said in a statement issued Sunday. Panto is encouraging residents without power to stay with friends or family until electricity is restored. "We are in contact with Met-Ed because the more serious problem is loss of power," Panto said. "Frankly, I have been out last night and most of today and have not seen one Met-Ed crew. I just spoke to the director and more manpower is coming in from out of the area including Cleveland. So far our conversation with the county indicates that they will not be opening a shelter." Met-Ed reports close to 9,000 out of power in Easton …
PennDOT reports roads closed due to downed trees and power lines.
PennDOT reports the following state roads in Northampton County CLOSED as of 7:30 a.m. Sunday due to downed trees and utility lines:
High-On-Lehigh
3:28 pm on Saturday, November 12, 2011
My wife just returned from a visit to relatives in Denmark. A similar extended power outage from a heavy snowstorm occurred there a few years back. In response, all the utility wires have been buried, which not only will avert a repeat outage, but also beautifies the neighborhood. (I would guess that the funding for burying the cables was public- either governmental directly, or by a publicly … more ›