Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. expects to have electrical service restored by Monday night (11/13) to all customers left without power by the weekend's storm.

PP&L has restored service to about 87,000 customers since the storm began Saturday afternoon (11/11). The company also is preparing to respond to two more strong storms expected to reach the area by midweek.

As of 11 a.m. today, about 1,000 customers remained without power, most in the Bloomsburg and Shamokin areas. The hardest hit areas were in higher elevations, where strong winds toppled trees and power lines.

"We have sent PP&L work crews from other regions to help in areas where we have outages," said Robert M. Geneczko, PP&L's vice president for Electrical Systems. "We thank all our customers affected by the storm for their patience and understanding."

PP&L crews have worked around the clock since 5 p.m. Saturday (11/11) to repair storm damage. Problems were widespread across PP&L's 29-county service area.

"We used all of our available work crews, plus some contracted crews in an effort to restore service to customers as quickly as possible," Geneczko said. "We asked other utilities for help, but they were unable to spare workers because they were dealing with the same kinds of storm-related problems."

PP&L is watching weather forecasts closely in preparation for two more strong storms headed toward the area.

"We are preparing to deal with the effects of those storms and to respond as quickly as possible to any customer power outages that may result," Geneczko said.