There were more lightning strikes in our region in June than there were during all of last year, an indication of the severity of storms that caused widespread damage and power outages for some PP&L, Inc., customers.

There were 84,000 lightning strikes during June in the region of Pennsylvania that includes the PP&L, Inc., electric distribution service territory, according to data supplied by the National Lightning Detection Network. During all 12 months of 1997, there were 69,000 lightning strikes in the same region.

"We have had an incredible rash of stormy weather, but we've still managed to restore power very quickly, considering the amount of damage that was done," said Bob Geneczko, vice president-Power Delivery.

"We're proud of our crews and support staff who work around the clock in all kinds of weather during storm emergencies. Their dedication and hard work helps make sure customers who lose power have their service restored as quickly as possible."

An example is PP&L, Inc.'s response to the storms that struck Tuesday (6/30), leaving a total of about 73,500 of the company's 1.2 million electric delivery customers without power.

About 29,000 of those customers had power restored in two hours or less,and another 20,000 had their electricity restored in two to four hours.

"We monitor weather forecasts and our emergency response organization prestages crews based on the track of the storm," said Geneczko. "Repair crews were on the street as soon as the damage happened," he said. "We aggressively attacked the problem with all available crews."

As of 3:30 p.m., about 4,900 customers remained without power. All are expected to be restored by midnight Wednesday (7/1).

The National Lightning Detection Network consists of antennas around the United States that monitor and tabulate lightning strikes. The antennas triangulate the location of strikes, and the system feeds the data into a database that PP&L uses to track storms.

Lightning can cause outages in several ways. A lightning strike can:

• Damage poles and electrical equipment
• Cause power line circuit breakers to trip
• Hit trees and break off limbs that sever power lines

Usually severe lightning storms are accompanied by high winds, another major cause of power outages during storms.

"We appreciate the patience our customers have shown during this trying period," Geneczko said. "This kind of storm damage puts a strain on all of our resources, from our Customer Contact Center to our Storm Emergency Organization. Thanks to all of our customers for their understanding."