Over 20,000 residents in the PPL coverage area remained without electricity this morning after 3.5 to 4 inches of rain fell since Monday.

Tom Kines, a senior meteorologist with AccuWeather, said, “That’s a month’s worth of rain in three days.” The good news is the rain is over for now.

“We’re going to have showers that come through every now and again over the next few days, but I think they’ll be in duration long enough, or in intensity heavy enough to aggravate any flooding issues that are occurring.”

Detours were in effect in some areas on Wednesday, as the traffic light was out at the Route 209 intersection with Harrity Road in Franklin Township.

Elsewhere, a tree was blocking Lower Smith Gap Road in Kunkletown, while debris was on the road on Lentz Trail outside Jim Thorpe.

The ramp from Route 248 to Bowmanstown was blocked by a fallen tree late in the afternoon.

It snowed on the mountain, and there was also sleet in Summit Hill on Wednesday.

As of 9 a.m. Thursday Carbon County had 469 people were without power, including 190 in Penn Forest Township, 166 in Kidder Township, 91 in East Penn Township, and 22 in Jim Thorpe.

In Lehigh County, 1,288 residents were without power, including 32 in Washington Township.

In Monroe County, 1,038 residents are out, including 81 in Coolbaugh Township, 12 in Eldred Township, and three in Chestnuthill Township.

In Schuylkill County, 909 are without power including 103 residents in West Penn Township, 24 in Rush Township, nine in Walker Township, and two in Tamaqua.

Crews working to restore power

Jane George, Regional Affairs Director, PPL, said the continued heavy rain and winds caused some damage and power outages across our service territory.

“Current predictions of strong and sustained wind may result in additional outages throughout the day,” George said.

George assured PPL crews are doing their best to have power restored to those without as soon as they can.

“PPL Electric has hundreds of personnel, including lineworkers, foresters, damage assessors and call center staff working across our service territory to restore power to those affected,” she said. “In preparation for this weather, we also mobilized additional crews from outside our region to help respond.

“We will work around the clock to respond as safely and quickly as possible to any outages that may occur.”

George said they encourage customers to stay connected in preparation for the storm.

Power outages may be reported online at pplelectric.com or text “Outage” to TXTPPL (898775).?

Sign up for alerts to stay connected and receive outage updates at pplelectric.com/alerts.

Customers may check the status of an outage and estimated restoration times online at pplelectric.com/outage.

For information on storm safety, outage restoration priorities and more, visit pplelectric.com/outage.

Kines cautioned people to be patient as the rain moved out.

“Not out of the question is a rumble of thunder this afternoon; I guess it’s not out of the question up in the high ground there could be some snow showers that occur as well over the next two or three days,” he said. “The calendar says spring, but Mother Nature still doesn’t want to change the calendar yet; she’s still on winter.”

Kines said that while there should be some sunshine over the next few days, it’s likely to be in short supply.

“Temperatures are going to be lower than what they should be this time of year,” he said. “We’ll probably have to wait until Sunday until we get a good amount of sunshine and an uptick in temperatures.”

Kines added that today, Friday and Saturday don’t figure to be the best of days.

“I think we’ll see a little bit of improvement on Saturday; of the next four days, definitely Sunday is the best,” he said.

Kines said that warming trend should continue into the first half of next week, as Monday and Tuesday should be dry as well.

By Tuesday, maybe Wednesday as well, he said we could see temperatures reach the lower 70s.

“If you can hang in there, I think there’s light at the end of the tunnel,” Kines said.