Several thousand customers are still without electricity because of high winds.

Jane George, regional affairs director, PPL, said that strong winds caused some damage and power outages across our service territory Wednesday night into early this morning.

As of 8:30 a.m., George said about 12,200 of its 1.5 million customers were without power.

“Our crews worked overnight and restored power to about 30,000 since the storm began,” George said. “Our team will continue working safely to restore power to customers who are experiencing outages.

As of 9:45 a.m., in Carbon County, of the 53,777 customers served, 205 were without power. The majority of those were in Penn Forest Township, Franklin Township, and Packer Township.

In Lehigh County, of the 2,470 customers served in Slatington, 252 were without power, and in Washington Township, of the 7,069 customers served, 191 were without power

In Monroe County, of the 9,146 customers served in Chestnuthill Township, 281 were without power, and in Eldred Township, of the 1,111 customer served, 11 were without power.

In Schuylkill County, of the 3,814 customers served in West Penn Township, 21 were without power. Power had been restored to Rush Township customers who were without power.

“We expect to restore most customers by 11 p.m. today,” George said. “Because of the scope of repairs, full restoration could take until Friday for some customers.”

George noted that continued wind could result in additional outages through this afternoon, and encouraged customers to stay safe and report any outages.

As for outages, she said they may be reported online at pplelectric.com or text “Outage” to TXTPPL (898775).??

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

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

George urged motorists to follow the following safety measures:

• If you encounter a downed wire at any time, assume it’s energized and stay away.?

• If you lose power and are using a portable generator, never operate the generator in an enclosed area, like a garage, where deadly carbon monoxide fumes could accumulate.

• Remember that candles can start fires. If you lose power, use flashlights instead.?

• For your safety and ours, please keep a safe distance from our crews.?