Sunday 7 am UPDATE: Crews Continue Cleanup

Chainsaws were buzzing and utility crews fanned out over a broad area throughout much of Potter County on Saturday as many residents, businesses and institutions coped with a third day without electricity, telephones and other services. At nightfall Saturday, more than 1,000 customers — mostly in Coudersport, Roulette and Genesee — were without electrical service. Crews from West Penn Power, Penelec and Tri-County REC resumed working to restore power this morning. Anyone who would like to report a power outage or obtain more information in the West Penn Power or Penelec service areas should call 1-888-544-4877.

Zito Media in Coudersport reports that long outages in its telephone, internet and cable service to many customers are the result of delays in the restoration of electrical service. Spokesmen for the utility companies stress that dozens of crews continue to work long hours under challenging conditions to address literally hundreds of areas where lines were dropped and/or destroyed.

Meanwhile, damage assessments will continue to be taken over the next several days by the Potter County Emergency Management Agency, in cooperation with township and borough officials. Official findings from the National Weather Service are pending, but initial reports suggest wind speeds of upwards of 90 miles per hour and a mixture of straight-line winds, microbursts and classification EF-1 tornado activity.

Potter County officials ask residents in the affected areas to continue to check on their neighbors and see if they can render assistance to those with special needs, as refrigeration, water-pumping and communications services remain unavailable to many residents.