A week after Superstorm Sandy left millions without electricity throughout the Northeast, hundreds of homes in rural communities in the Poconos remained powerless on Monday.
That should change today.
Officials with First Energy said they hope to have power fully restored by today for about 500 customers in Pike County and 2,000 customers in Monroe County. Scott Surgeoner, a company spokesman, attributed the delay to the "time-consuming, labor-intensive work" of removing felled trees and fixing broken power infrastructure.
By Sunday, crews with PPL Electric Utilities restored virtually all power knocked out by the storm in Lackawanna County. But nearly 300 PPL customers in Wayne, Monroe and Pike counties were still powerless on Monday. Spokesman Rich Beasley placed some of the blame on "weakened trees and weakened limbs" loosened by Sandy's winds, but just now falling on power lines.
"We expect to see some smaller-scale outages probably throughout the week," Mr. Beasley said.
PPL listed Sandy among the three worst storms to inflict damage on its power infrastructure in the company's history.
Crews with UGI Utilities, which provides electric service mainly in Luzerne County and a portion of Wyoming County, has restored power for more than 17,492 customers who were without service since the storm hit.
"We had 99 percent up by the end of the day Wednesday," spokesman Don Brominski said. "Most importantly, everyone was safe. We had no injuries during the restoration effort."
Last week, more than 91,600 customers of the three major utilities serving the seven-county area had no power.
While the more severe parts of the storm sidestepped the region, sustained winds and strong gusts toppled trees onto power lines and ripped roofs off homes.
Area cleanup efforts are nearly wrapped up. Local Army Reserve soldiers were deployed to hard-hit Long Beach, N.Y. The 401st Quartermaster Team, from Lock Haven, worked to pump water out of a school and recreation center there last night. The group of approximately 25 soldiers is prepared to be on hand for days, pumping water and helping as needed.
All Red Cross shelters and warming centers in Northeast Pennsylvania were expected to close on Monday, the agency announced. However, anyone in need of shelter can still go to the "mega-shelter" at East Stroudsburg University.
Besides destruction, the storm has brought something else: good will.
Nicholas Wynder, 13, of Scranton, spearheaded a drive for emergency supplies and other items for areas hard hit by the storm, including, Staten Island, N.Y., and New Jersey.
After setting up two drop-offs for items in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties, people donated enough goods over the weekend to fill two 24-foot trucks in addition to two trailers, his mom, Jennifer Megotz, said.
"I saw the pictures of the devastation in New York and New Jersey and knew I needed to help," said Nicholas. "I'm only 13, so I'm very limited with resources but knew my friends and family would help. We had such a huge turnout for the collection sites that we needed another truck."
Donations ran the gamut: clothing, bottled water, infant supplies, paper towels and items for personal hygiene.
They intend to drive the trucks to Staten Island and New Jersey today.
Nicole Shotto, 38, and her boyfriend, Brian Coakley, Dickson City, had planned to drive an SUV to check on property he owns in Lavallette, N.J., this weekend.
In the aftermath of Sandy, though, she knew she couldn't go empty-handed. They shared their plans to load the SUV on Facebook, but the community had other ideas.
"It kind of escalated from there," she said. "Everyone wanted to donate something."
Now the duo will be part of a supply-laden caravan, which will include a tractor-trailer donated by Redline Towing Inc. Donations for the trip can be dropped off at the Dickson City Civic Center at 935 Albert St. from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. until Friday.
Cleaning supplies, baby supplies, blankets and clothing are all suggested donations, she added.
In Scranton, donations are piling up at Jessee's Place. Casey Welby, 30, said she and her friend, owner Tara Kojsza, plan to transport a U-Haul truck of supplies to New Jersey on Wednesday. They are calling their efforts Operation Duct Tape and hope to collect pet food, firewood, nonperishable food, cleaning supplies and anything residents are able to donate. Donations can be dropped off at Jessee's Place at 426 Bartel St., Scranton, until 6 p.m. today.
Contact the writer: smcconnell@ timesshamrock.com, @smcconnellTT on Twitter