More than 90% of Centre County homes and businesses that lost power in Tuesday night’s storms have had their electricity restored as of Friday afternoon. Thousands, however, were still waiting for the lights to come back on as restoration and cleanup efforts continued around the county.
As of 3:45 p.m. on Friday, 3,310 West Penn Power customers in Centre County were still experiencing outages, down from more than 36,000 in the immediate wake of the storm on Tuesday night.
The global estimated time of restoration — the point at which nearly all power will have been restored — is 11 p.m. on Sunday for Centre County, according to First Energy, West Penn’s parent company. For many locations in Centre County still experiencing outages, the First Energy outages map showed estimated restoration times ranging from 5 p.m. Friday to 11 p.m. Saturday, as of Friday afternoon.
Restoration efforts could, still be hampered by more severe weather over the weekend, as high winds or lightning may delay work or cause additional outages. The region experienced more storms on Thursday night. AccuWeather forecasts a 33% chance of thunderstorms for the remainder of the day on Friday and 53% on Saturday, when storms could bring heavy downpours and damaging wind gusts. Periods of rain and a thunderstorm are expected on Sunday.
First Energy has deployed hundreds of workers from in and out of state to Centre County to assist with restoration, and nearly 5,000 to its service areas in western and central Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
The storm, which had wind gusts up to 80 mph in some places, caused widespread damage and at least four deaths across western and central Pennsylvania and at least. One death occurred in State College, where a 22-year-old man who was attempting to extinguish a mulch fire was electrocuted by damaged power lines.
ROAD CLOSURES
Many of the roads in Centre County that were closed because of downed trees and power lines and other damage have since reopened. But some storm-related closures remained in place on Friday afternoon as cleanup continues.
Ferguson Township
• West College Avenue between Bristol Avenue and Whitehall Road. The road is expected to remain closed through the end of the day on Friday
• 1200 block of West Gatesburg Road
State College
• West Park Avenue between Fairway Drive and Franklin Street
• Keller Street between Calder Way and Beaver Avenue
RESOURCES
• Residents without power can pick up free water (two 1-gallon bottles or one 24-pack) and ice (two 7-9-pound bags of ice or 1 20-25-pound bag) at the Giant supermarket locations at 255 Northland Center, State College; 2121 S. Atherton St, State College; or 2699 Benner Pike, Bellefonte. Those picking up free water or ice should say at checkout that they are First Energy customers without power.
• Residents on wells that need water can use the water filling station at the Alpha Fire Station in Patton Township, 2598 Green Tech Drive. The station is donated by State College Borough Water Authority and is free for residents to use.
• Those without power can use the College Township meeting room at 1481 E. College Ave. or the Patton Township meeting room at 100 Patton Plaza to charge devices. The College Township meeting room is available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and can be accessed through the main doors and up the stairs to the left. The Patton Township room is accessed through the lower entrance marked meeting room and is available from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
• Maine Bay & Berry Co. has offered refrigeration space for anyone without power who needs to store medicine or other critical items that must stay cold. Message Maine Bay & Berry on Facebook or Instagram, or call 814-954-1560 to make arrangements
• Snow Shoe EMS, 492 W. Sycamore Rd., is open for residents to charge devices and have a cup of coffee or tea.
• Miles Township Fire Company, 102 Broad Street, Rebersburg, is open to charges devices.
• Centre Hall Volunteer Fire Company, 134 Witmer Avenue, is open from 2 to 9 p.m. for showers, water, device charging and ice to keep food cold (bring a cooler). Contact the fire company via Facebook message if access is needed outside those hours.
• For Penn State students living off campus, the university provided multiple resources on campus, where power and WiFi are functioning.
REFUSE AND BRUSH COLLECTIONS
State College Borough
Brush collection service in State College will take place as usual on Monday, May 5. Items should be placed at the curb for morning collections. This service requires residents to submit a brush collection request through SeeClickFix or by calling (814) 234-7135 during normal business hours, Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
From Tuesday, May 6, to Thursday, May 8, the State College Borough Public Works Department will temporarily allow for two extra bags of garbage placed beside the regular garbage can for trash collection. For waste more than two bags, residents will need to submit a bulk collection request through SeeClickFix or by calling (814) 234-7135 during normal business hours, Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
There are no additional costs associated with either of these services. Requests for service must be submitted by 5 p.m. on Sunday, May 4, for collections next week. Due to the severity of the storm, bulk and brush collections may extend into multiple days.
Benner, College, Ferguson, Harris and Patton Township Refuse
Residents whose addresses could not be serviced because of road closures should remove refuse carts and recycling bins from the curb and hold refuse until next week. There will be no additional charge for additional food waste related refuse bags collected during the period of April 30 to May 7. The standard $4 fee for additional bags will apply for other refuse materials including brush and damaged housing materials.
Those you need immediate assistance with refuse or recycling service, please call the Centre County Recycling and Refuse Authority at (814) 826-2722 or by email at cogcs@centrecountyrecycles.org. Additionally, COG Refuse and Recycling can be contacted at recycler@crcog.net.
College Township Brush Collection
College will collect brush storm-related brush the week of May 5. Residents should follow brush collection protocol and have their storm-related brush set out by 7 a.m. Monday. For those who miss the special collection, the next regularly scheduled brush collection is the week of May 19, starting at 7 a.m. that Monday.
Harris Township Brush Collection
Harris Township will be collecting storm-related brush beginning on Monday, May 12, by request only. To request collection of storm-related brush, residents must contact the Township offices by Thursday, May 8 and provide their address. Requests can be made by calling the township offices at 814-466-6228 or by emailing secretary@harristownship.org. This is a one-time only collection, and brush must be at the curb by 7 a.m. on May 12 to ensure collection.
For information on preparing brush for collection visit harristownship.org/resident-info/leaf-brush-collection.
Bellefonte Borough Brush Collection
Bellefonte Borough crews will be collecting brush from the curb throughout the next week. Brush should be in four-foot lengths or less at the curb for collection.
