Crews from PPL Electric Utilities Wednesday (7/23) continued repairing poles, wires, transformers and other equipment damaged by a series of severe thunderstorms that began Monday evening (7/21).

Since 4 p.m. Monday, the company has restored power to more than 193,000 customers, making it the second-largest storm restoration effort in the company’s history. Only Hurricane Floyd in 1999 caused more damage.

Most of PPL Electric Utilities’ 29-county electric delivery service area in central and eastern Pennsylvania experienced some damages during the storms that began Monday evening. Hardest-hit were customers in Lackawanna, Wayne and Pike counties in northeastern Pennsylvania and Columbia, Montour and Northumberland counties in central Pennsylvania.

As of 8 a.m. Wednesday, about 8,000 customers remained without electricity. The majority of those were in the Bloomsburg and Sunbury areas. PPL is sending all available crews to those areas to assist.

Customers restored: About 193,000 as of 8 a.m. Wednesday (7/23).

Customers without power: About 8,000 of 8 a.m. Wednesday (7/23).

Affected areas: Lackawanna, Wayne and Pike counties in northeastern Pennsylvania and Columbia, Montour and Northumberland counties in central Pennsylvania.

Number of jobs pending: About 350 repair jobs remained to be done as of 8 a.m. Wednesday (7/23).

Additional information: Customers in the Lancaster, Allentown and Bethlehem areas affected by the storm should be back in service Wednesday afternoon. In areas with more damage — including the Poconos, Bloomsburg and Sunbury — full restoration is expected Wednesday evening. In those areas, crews are facing extensive damage to wires, poles and equipment, and hundreds of repair jobs that must be completed.

PPL Electric Utilities is calling customers expected to be without power for more than 24 hours, and has arranged for locations that will give customers free ice and drinking water. For information about those outreach services, to inform the company about special needs or to report an outage, customers should call toll-free 1-800-342-5775 (1-800 DIAL PPL).

Crews and support personnel from Dominion Virginia Power and contractor crews for Pepco in Washington, D.C., are assisting in the restoration effort. Local electrical contractors and tree trimming services also are helping the restoration effort. The company will continue to assess the availability of crews and support from other utilities and direct additional help to the hardest-hit areas in an effort to complete the repairs and restore service as quickly as possible.