PP&L, Inc. crews continue to battle rain and wind to restore service to customers in eastern and central Pennsylvania affected by Hurricane Floyd.

The number of power outages continues to increase in the hardest-hit areas, including the Lehigh Valley, Lancaster County and western Berks County. As of 5:30 p.m. Thursday (9/16), 32,000 PP&L customers were without power.

Since eastern and central Pennsylvania began to feel the effects of Floyd on Wednesday evening (9/15), PP&L crews have restored electric delivery service to more than 26,000 customers.

"Our crews have been working throughout the day, in difficult weather conditions, to restore service to customers," said Robert M. Geneczko, vice president of Power Delivery for PP&L.

"We will have people working through the evening, and we will be moving PP&L crews tonight from locations with fewer power outages to supplement our workforce in the harder-hit areas," he added.

PP&L will have additional people at its customer service call center through the evening to answer reports of power outages from customers. The toll-free phone number is 1-800-342-5775 (1-800 DIAL PPL). Any customer who loses electric service should call to report the problem. Customer calls help PP&L pinpoint the source so crews can restore service as quickly as possible.

A major cause of the power outages is trees, Geneczko noted. A combination of saturated ground, added weight from soaked limbs and leaves, and weakened roots from the summer's drought has resulted in a large number of uprooted trees.

As trees come down, they may bring down power lines with them. Fallen wires are a public safety hazard. Anyone who sees a fallen wire should stay a safe distance away and call PP&L or the local emergency telephone number to report the problem.

Customers in some parts of PP&L's service area also should be aware of the threat of flooding. If flooding is imminent, customers should shut off the power to their house by shutting off their main circuit breaker.