Storm knocks out power, downs trees

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

Most fall Saturdays you can find the owners of Easton’s Mercantile Home at the city’s farmers market in Centre Square selling fresh flowers and textile wares.

Given today’s snowy forecast, store owners Ron Morris and Ken Jones opted to keep their merchandise dry inside their Northampton Street storefront. The vibrant dahlias that normally would have been snatched up at the farmers market found a new home in a store display.

As he filmed the snow on his cell phone, Morris said he doesn’t ever remember seeing a storm like this in October.

A heavy, wintry mix of snow began falling in the region about 9 o'clock this morning, leaving cars careening across area roads and downed trees and power lines in its wake. The snow accumulation on leaf-laden tree branches has caused widespread power outages.

The National Weather Service predicts a total snowfall of eight to 10 inches, with some areas seeing close to a foot of snow, said meteorologist Kristin Kline. Snowfall accumulations about 5:30 this evening varied widely throughout the region.

Has the snow affected your Halloween plans?
Yes

No

VoteView Results
Share This

Late October or early November snowstorms like this tend to occur once every five to 10 years, she said.

“This is an early season nor’easter,” Kline said. “We don’t always see this strong of a storm this early in the season. But it isn’t unheard of by any means.”

The weather service expects the storm to move out of the area by midnight tonight. Sunday and Monday should bring sunny skies and temperatures in the lower 40s. But it will be a slow snow melt since overnight temperatures should drop back to freezing levels, Kline said.

Cantelmi Hardware in Bethlehem saw a small rush on electric generators this afternoon as people lost power but calcium was the hot seller all day, said Brian Clarke, the shop mechanic. Though Cantelmi is already stocked for winter, Clarke said the storm is still a shock.

PPL reports 219,387 customers without power. Spokeswoman Lissette Santana says most outages have occurred in the Lehigh Valley, Bucks County, and the Harrisburg and Lancaster areas.

The number of people without power in Northampton and Lehigh counties climbed throughout the afternoon reaching 102,187 by 5 o'clock.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie declared a state of emergency in his state after 500,000 residents lost power.

FirstEnergy, which includes Met-Ed and JCP&L, spokesman Scott Surgeoner reports about 95,000 customers without power, most in Berks and York counties. Outage maps for FirstEnergy are down.

In anticipation of the storm, First Energy sent a convoy of about 2,000 linemen and support workers into New Jersey and Pennsylvania late Friday and early this morning, according to a news release.

“We are prepared to work around the clock to restore service to our customers affected by this storm,” said Mark Julian, vice president of utility operations for FirstEnergy.

About 4 p.m., Lehigh Valley International Airport remained open although there have been several flight delays and cancellations. Spokeswoman Susan Kittle expects that as weather worsens some of the delays will become cancellations, but she said all efforts will be made to keep the airport open.

“We have had very limited flights due to the weather,” she said.

Kittle advised anyone headed to LVIA to check the airport’s website before venturing out.

“We want everyone to be safe,” Kittle said.

Many local residents said that even though they knew a storm was coming, the severity caught them by surprise.
“This is absolutely a lot more snow than I expected to see today. I can’t believe it’s not even Halloween and it’s snowing already,” Carole Shepherd said shortly after shoveling the driveway at her home in Washington Township, Warren County.


The slick roads didn’t deter Fabio Bogado from keeping his pizzeria open in Washington Borough. Sal's Pizza had a steady stream of delivery orders during the day, though he warned customers that instead of a 30-minute delivery time, it would likely take an hour for them to get their pizzas.

“My three drivers say the main roads are pretty good, but you have to be careful on the side roads,” Bogado said. “People realize the conditions are bad, and they’re thankful that we’re willing to come out to them. We’ll keep delivering as long as the conditions don’t get too bad.”


For Jones, of Easton, the snowfall coinciding with the holiday weekend seemed appropriate.


“It’s Halloween, trick or treat,” Jones said. “This is the trick -- or the treat depending on how you look at it.”


The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/breaking-news/index.ssf/2011/10/post_79.html