Half of Centre County outages restored, West Penn says. How long for the rest?
8:30 p.m. May 1 update: As restorations continue, 5,346 West Penn Power customers are still without power, according to West Penn Power’s website.
Some of the thousands of Centre County residents still without power after a severe storm blew through western and central Pennsylvania Tuesday may need to wait a few more days to see their outages end.
More than 18,000 people were without power in Centre County as of early Thursday afternoon, according to West Penn Power’s outage map. Todd Meyers, a spokesperson for FirstEnergy, said roughly half of the 35,000 customers whose service was impacted by the storm have had power restored.
The energy provider expects to have power restored “for the majority of customers” by 11 p.m. Sunday. Meyers expects crews working on the outages will make significant progress on Thursday.
Meyers said West Penn Power’s crews are receiving help from roughly 110 line workers from Met-Ed, another FirstEnergy utility company that serves roughly 560,000 customers in eastern Pennsylvania. Those workers were available to help because the rare storm that rocked much of Ohio and the western half of Pennsylvania — a derecho, known for strong and destructive winds — died over the Susquehanna Valley Tuesday night and did not produce significant damage in eastern Pennsylvania.
Centre County, however, was heavily impacted. A 22-year-old State College man died Tuesday of electrocution when he encountered an active electric current from a utility pole as he was putting out a mulch fire.
State College sustained significant damage to larger power lines that feed nearby substations, where smaller power lines pick up the electricity necessary to power homes and businesses in local neighborhoods and municipalities. Damage to those lines impacts the power to the substation and any line that leaves it, Meyers said.
“A good illustration of this would be a power strip plugged into the wall,” he explained in an email to the Centre Daily Times. “Think of the cord plugged into the wall as a larger line powering the power strip (substation) and then the cords to the computer, monitor, TV set, etc. being the smaller electric lines that serve our customers. With a problem with the main cord in the wall, none of the stuff plugged in will have power.”
Thursday’s forecast could hamper some efforts to restore power in the State College area, too. Meyers said FirstEnergy is watching for another round of severe weather in the evening and afternoon, when thunderstorms could bring strong winds through areas impacted by outages.
Restoration efforts may stall if winds blow above 40 mph during a storm, Meyers said. At that threshold and above, line crews can’t safely work in aerial buckets.
“If [workers] are using the truck booms to raise material like cross arms or transformers or wire into place, wind speeds of 30 miles per hour stop the work,” Meyers wrote in an email. “Additionally, when they spot lightning, they must stand down until the threat has passed — at least 30 minutes with no new lightning.”
Meyers said strong wind gusts could take down more trees or power lines and potentially cause new outages for customers — even those who lost power but saw it restored following Tuesday’s storms.
The latest forecast for State College from the National Weather Service calls for wind gusts as high as 20 mph and showers in the late afternoon with a chance of evening thunderstorms, some of which could be severe. A good chance of showers and thunderstorms is expected to continue Friday and over the weekend, the agency says.
AccuWeather, meanwhile, calls for a chance of thunderstorms in State College “capable of producing hail and damaging wind gusts” that could hamper power restoration efforts.
“Gusty winds and small hail can accompany any downpour,” AccuWeather wrote as part of its Thursday night forecast for State College.
You can report power outages to FirstEnergy by calling 1-888-LIGHTSS (1-888-544-4877), texting OUT to LIGHTS (544487) or clicking the “Outages” link on firstenergycorp.com.
People should assume all downed or low-hanging power lines are energized and dangerous. Make sure to stay at least 30 feet away from them and exercise additional caution where downed lines are tangled in trees or other debris. Report downed lines immediately by calling 911.
Outages across Centre County forced several roads and schools to close Wednesday, though all five public school districts are open Thursday.
This story was originally published May 1, 2025 at 12:48 PM.
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