GLENBURN TWP. - Keith Goldovich received a pleasant surprise early Saturday morning - his power came back on.
He lost power in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, during the height of Superstorm Sandy, and spent a few days without power at his Glenburn Twp. house until he was able to borrow a generator.
But when he flicked the light switch Saturday and saw the bulbs light up without help from the generator, he couldn't help but crack a smile.
Later that morning, seeing that others on his street also had their lights on, he received another pleasant surprise - the sound of relative silence.
"It used to be like an industrial park here," Mr. Goldovich, 25, said, recalling the noise his and neighbors' generators caused on his street.
According to PPL, plenty of other people in Northeast Pennsylvania will soon share his smile. The electric company hopes to have power restored to all customers by 11 tonight.
"We are going to gradually restore those customers throughout the day," PPL spokesman Rich Beasley said Saturday.
By Saturday night, PPL had restored power to 19,899 customers in Lackawanna County. But 402 customers still remained without power in the county as of 11 p.m., according to PPL.
Jefferson Twp. had the most outages remaining - - followed by 96 in Clifton Twp. and 17 in Dalton.
Monroe County still had 2,281 outages, Pike had 2,452, Susquehanna had 37, Wayne had 2,522 and Wyoming had 42, according to PPL.
And as of 11:14 p.m. Saturday, First Energy had 12,164 outages remaining in the region - 8,032 in Monroe and 4,132 in Pike.
PennDOT spokesman James May said many of the roads they closed in their six districts during and after the storm have reopened. He had no specifics on roads that continued to be closed.
In Dalton Saturday, Fire Chief Ron Stacknick continued to hand out water and a hot meal to those who need them, whether at the fire house or by door-to-door delivery.
Thursday and Friday were the busiest days for the fire house, with well over 100 people showing up for food and water over the course of the two days.
"The reality and frustration set it," Chief Stacknick said. "There's still a certain level of frustration."
Since Mr. Goldovich had a generator for most of the time the power was out, his level of frustration was not as high as it was for others. Still, the aftermath of superstorm Sandy is not going to be something he will quickly forget.
"It was an experience," Mr. Goldovich said.
Contact the writer: jkohut@timesshamrock.com, @jkohutTT on Twitter