The superstorm that started as Hurricane Sandy saved its worst rains Monday for areas south, east and west of Northeast Pennsylvania, but high winds caused widespread power outages, with more than 75,000 without power Monday night.
Sandy smashed into the Atlantic Coast, packing massive wind gusts and heavy rainfall.
As of about 9 p.m., the storm was centered in southern New Jersey, but was moving into the Poconos, with winds mostly between 25-40 mph with gusts in the high 60s and low 70s mph, including in Pike County, said , David Nicosia, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Binghamton, N.Y.
Winds were expected to pick up between about 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., but taper through the early morning hours and into Tuesday afternoon. As the winds picked up, so did the numbers of homes without power.
For PPL, 3,623 customers were without power in Lackawanna County; 5,526 in Luzerne County; 19,922 in Monroe County; 10,809 in Pike County; 163 in Susquehanna County; and 7,382 in Wayne County.
First Energy was reporting 15,156 of its customers were without power in Pike County; 15,007 in Monroe County; and 52 in Wyoming County.
There were multiple reports of trees across power lines in Lackawanna County, including transformer explosions on Community Drive in Ransom Twp. and in the 1200 block of West Grove Street in Clarks Summit.
In Jermyn, there was a report of a roof off a house and into a vehicle on Washington Avenue in Jermyn.
The Morgan Highway was closed while crews cleaned up downed power lines and trees, 911 dispatchers said. PennDOT closed the road between the PennDOT salt shed and Country Club Road.
Earlier in the day, Sandy kept students home, cancelled many flights at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport, closed malls and myriad offices and shut down bus services early.
The American Red Cross opened emergency shelters at Lakeland, North Pocono and Scranton high schools and the Jefferson Twp. Fire Hall in Lackawanna County, Tunkhannock Area High School in Wyoming County, and Susquehanna Community School District in Susquehanna County at 3 p.m. Grace Episcopal Church at 827 Church St. in Honesdale, Wayne County, opened a shelter at noon and five of its eight cots were claimed by 3 p.m., rector Rev. Edward Erb said.
All day, local emergency management officials kept preparing for worse. They mobilized staff to local 911 centers, met to talk strategy, alerted rescue crews to be ready, kept an eye on rivers and hoped that Sandy's nastiest would never arrive.
"It may not be quite as heavy as what we first initially had thought. The worst of it seems to be going south of you guys," AccuWeather meteorologist Brian Edwards said from his State College office.
At the Lackawanna County 911 center in Jessup, staff sat at laptop computers as giant television screens tuned to The Weather Channel and CNN aired the latest on the storm. Bottles of spring water and soda dotted tables.
"It's going to be mainly a wind event, not a rain event," said David Hahn, the county 911 director said.
Mr. Hahn said officials expect no major river flooding, but were watching out for flash flooding. The commissioners urged everyone
to stay indoors and away from windows.
"The big message is stay at home, stay off the street," Commissioner Patrick O'Malley said.
Richard Beasley, regional spokesman for PPL, said consumers should be prepare for lengthy power outages.
"Even with the best of preparation, people are going to lose power," Mr. Beasley said. "We are not talking hours here. In some cases, we may be talking days, depending on the weather."
PPL has 1,500 additional utility crew personnel to respond to power interruptions and spent the weekend preparing for the storm, Mr. Beasley said.
"We have all the necessary equipment and personnel ready to engage the storm," he said.
For the most part, Monday was spent waiting and preparing for an unwelcome guest to arrive.
Meetings like the one in Old Forge, where police, firefighters and public works employees met to plan, were typical.
"Everybody's all on board, waiting," Mayor Michele Avvisato said.
In Moosic, workers primed chain saws, sandbags and additional sump pumps as borough officials kept an eye on water levels in the
Lackawanna River and Spring Brook.
With predictions of rain reduced, small-stream flooding was expected to be less likely.
Taylor Mayor Richard Bowen scheduled additional police officers through Wednesday. Borough Manager Dan Zeleniak said the storm would mark the first major test for new storm and sanitary sewer systems at Third, Pond and Prince streets.
"We're keeping our fingers crossed," Mr. Zeleniak said.
In Archbald, officials set up a command center, readied chainsaws and cleared drains.
"We do have areas that tend to flood with high quantities of water," borough manager Anthony Giordano said. Communities around the
Midvalley spent the morning clearing drains, filling sand bags and getting equipment ready. Officials in Blakely met to discuss emergency preparedness plans, borough manager Thomas Wascura said.
There were already 400 sand bags readied in Carbondale, where the command center had been set up in the fire station. City officials said the city would not collect trash Tuesday, meaning collections will run a day behind.
Wind knocking down trees and power lines was uppermost in most officials minds.
"I don't think we're going to have any major problems with flooding," Jessup Fire Chief Steve Pitoniak said. "The weather has been warm enough that if we lose power, people won't have the worry too much about heat loss."
In Wyoming County, the commissioners declared a state of emergency, Emergency Management Agency Director Gene Dziak announced, but without travel restrictions.
Almost all flights headed south and east from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport were cancelled Tuesday as was Vice President Joseph Biden's local appearance set for Thursday.
Martz Trailways suspended bus service out of Scranton after its 7:20 a.m. bus. Whether it would resume today was uncertain, said Dan Brunner, director of operations.
"If the subways are flooded, we probably won't have service," Mr. Brunner said, because most customers dropped off at Port Authority in New York City need subways to get to their final destination.
The Scranton School Board work session scheduled for tonight was canceled, and the state Department of Transportation reduced speed limits on local interstates to 45 mph.
Sandy even messed with Halloween. In Honesdale, borough officials not only decided to keep administrative offices closed Tuesday, they postponed trick-or-treating until Monday from 5 to 8 p.m.
Staff writers David Singleton, Rebekah Brown, Joe Kohut, Laura Legere, Jim Lockwood, Katie Sullivan, David Falchek, James Haggerty
contributed to this story.
Contact the writer: bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com