Power restoration to homes and businesses in flooded areas of the City of Scranton will be done on a house-by-house basis to protect public safety according to a Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. spokesman.

"We will begin the process to return electric service in The Plot and Weston Field sections of Scranton when public officials tell us it is safe to do so," said Richard R. Beasley, PP&L's community development director for Scranton.

About 1,200 customers in those sections have been without power since Friday afternoon (1/19) because of flooding from the Lackawanna River.

Many homes and businesses in those areas were inundated by flood waters. Some homes that were not flooded had their power cut as well because the power line that serves those homes runds through a flooded area.

"We understand the high level of frustration people are feeling, especially those who were not flooded and are still without power," Beasley said.

"This is an important public safety issue, however. We don't want to see a difficult situation become tragic by restoring electric service before it is safe to do so," he added.

PP&L is coordinating its activities with the Scranton Fire Department, city officials and Lackawanna County emergency management officials.

"While we expect to restore our ability to provide electricity to the flooded areas of Scranton by late this afternoon, homes and businesses in those areas must have electrical inspections by the day before we can safely restore service," Beasley explained.

PP&L servicemen will accompany city electrical inspectors when they begin house-to-house inspections. If the city inspectors gives the OK, PP&L will restore power.

"The process will take time, but we have to do it this way to protect public safety," Beasley said.

"We hope to be able to restore power to those who had little or no water damage fairly quickly once the process starts. Some homes that had serious flooding may be without electricity for several days," he added.