PP&L, Inc. crews are continuing to restore electric service after heavy, wet snow overnight Sunday (3/14) brought trees down on power lines.

Since 8 p.m. Sunday, about 42,000 PP&L, Inc. customers have been affected by the storm. Hardest hit were the company's Lehigh, Harrisburg and Lancaster regions.

As of 10 a.m. Monday, about 6,000 customers in the company's 29-county service area remained without power. Of those, 4,800 were in the Lehigh region, which includes portions of Lehigh, Northampton, Bucks and Montgomery counties. There also were scattered outages throughout the remainder of the PP&L, Inc. system. The utility expected service to be restored to all areas by 11 p.m. Monday (3/15).

"We sent crews to the Lehigh region from Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, and also have called contractors to assist in restoring service there," said Robert M. Geneczko, PP&L, Inc. vice president for Power Delivery. "Also, the Lancaster area is being assisted by crews sent from Harrisburg."

The heavy, wet snow caused tree limbs to break and fall on power lines, resulting in broken wires, Geneczko explained. In addition, PP&L, Inc. has experienced scattered outages throughout its service area caused by vehicles and snowplows breaking poles.

Wires on the ground may be extremely dangerous, he cautioned.

Anyone who encounters a fallen wire should keep a safe distance away and report the situation immediately by calling PP&L, Inc.'s toll-free number 1-800-342-5775 (1-800 DIAL PPL) or the local emergency number(911).