BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Almost 50,000 electricity customers in the Lehigh Valley are out of power following storms in the area.
Storms arrived in the Valley just before 7 p.m., and more are expected later Wednesday night, according to a radar simulation shared by the National Weather Service.
More than 48,000 residents are without power, as of 7:50 p.m. Wednesday — that includes 11,000 outages under Met-Ed and 37,000 PPL customers.
That number climbed to 100,000 affected PPL customers over the company's 29-county service area, with the most impacted customers located in the Lehigh Valley. Outages slowly began to decrease throughout the night, lowering to around 86,300 PPL customers without power by 11:30 p.m.
An automated call from PPL said the power grid was damaged, meaning power might not be restored in some areas until Friday.
"Our crews are working throughout the night to restore power for customers affected by today's storms," the electric company said in a post on X.
Most reported outages on the PPL power outage map — stretching from Coopersburg to Martins Creek to Slatington — showed an estimated repair time by 3 p.m. Friday.
The Lehigh Valley remains in a slight risk for severe weather from the Storm Prediction Center, with damaging winds being called the main threat.
“There will be a chance for large hail, and an isolated tornado or two,” the SPC said.
The first storm to batter the area tore down tree branches and electrical wires, with an electrical fire beginning on a sidewalk near The Ice House in Bethlehem.
Firefighters also responded to a power line sparking on North Arch Street in Allentown around 8:40 p.m.
Branches down on Route 378 also appeared to mostly block southbound traffic.
And, there's still more likely to come — the severe thunderstorm watch is in effect until midnight.
The SPC said storms in northern Pennsylvania, along the Pennsylvania/New York state line, could cause flash flooding due to heavy rainfall.
"The upshot of all this is that some areas could see multiple rounds of storms during the 5 p.m.-to-midnight timeframe," the weather service said.
