Thousands Wait for Power in Upper Macungie

The door to King Pin Beverage in Upper Macungie was propped open with a bucket Wednesday afternoon, and even though there were no lights, the owner kept the store open for those in need of ice -- and beer.

he had kept the store open during the daylight hours. The customers were few, he said, and most of those who came were there for ice. 

Like other residents and business owners who had been without power since Monday night, the owner, who declined to give his name, was hoping to see the power back on by 11 p.m. Wednesday, as PPL Corp. had indicated.

And it couldn't happen soon enough. The previous day, he said, someone had broken into his business and the billiards business next door at the Shoppes at Old Towne. He was not sure what had been taken.

As of 2:30 p.m. Thursday, there were still 1,336 customers without power in Upper Macungie, according to the PPL Outage Map.  Power had been restored to some 6,316 township customers. 

The Parkland School District announced on its website that schools will be closed again today. It said four of its 11 schools were still without power, including Orefield Middle School, which houses the district's transportation fleet. St. Joseph the Worker School in Orefield and St. Thomas More School in Salisbury also are closed today.

Meanwhile on Wednesday afternoon, along Route 100 near the Route 222 bypass, utility crews in cherry pickers worked to restore power lines knocked down by Sandy. Part of the roadway was closed and traffic rerouted.

Throughout the township, trees were uprooted in yards, lingering signs of Sandy's high wind gusts. Some traffic lights still were working. Where there was power, such as at the Starlite Diner, customers lined up for lunch and dinner, some waiting 40 minutes or more for a seat.

The day before, use of a generator had led to a fire at a home in the township, and a Lower Macungie woman using a generator had died of carbon monoxide poisoning. An Orefield woman had died of hypothermia.

A King Pin Beverage customer who came to buy beer at the distributor on Wednesday said he had been without power at his home at Merry Lane since Monday night. A wood fireplace provided heat and he had thought ahead to fill his bathtub with water. His parents had luckily left for a cruise to the Bahamas on Sunday.

He hadn't had work either for two days, since his employer also had lost power, and he was looking to pass the time.

"I'll remember this one for a long time," he said.