Friday’s thunderstorm caused some lasting troubles for area
residents, as 85 customers around the Bradford area were without
telephone service until Wednesday.
Lee Gierczynski, media relations representative for Verizon,
explained, “From what was described to me, there was a power outage
and when the power was restored, there was a power surge.”
The surge apparently happened Saturday afternoon.
Gierczynski said Verizon was told the power surge damaged two
electric meters servicing Corwins Corners and Derrick City, which
in turn affected telephone service in that area.
“Before Verizon could make repairs, Penelec had to repairs to
the electric meters,” he said, explaining why customers had not
seen repair crews out before Wednesday.
Penelec made those repairs Tuesday, Gierczynski said, allowing
Verizon to go ahead with repairs Wednesday.
“Service is restored to those customers,” he added.
Help could have arrived sooner if the McKean County Emergency
Management Agency had been notified.
Steve Nelson, director of McKean County Emergency Management
Agency, said that his agency had not been made aware anyone in the
county had been without phone service since the storm.
“If we would have known, we would have pushed on it,” he said.
“We would have gone to the state (Emergency Operations Center) to
push for a more timely result. Four days is a bit extreme.”
The EMA works out of the McKean County 911 building; had anyone
reported the lack of phone service to the 911 Center, emergency
officials could have helped sooner, Nelson said.
“We consider it an extreme hazard because, what if someone
needed an ambulance? I know people didn’t have phones, but some way
or another, they need to let us know,” he said.
Describing the actions EMA takes in an emergency situation such
as a prolonged period without phone service, Nelson said, “We open
up an active incident with the state Emergency Operations
Center.
“I feel bad that I didn’t know anything about it,” he said.
“That’s our business to keep track of that stuff. I just feel bad
for those poor people. You kind of feel stranded without any way to
get in touch with anyone.
“We’re kind of powerless with the end result, but there are ways
we can push to get (the process) sped up,” Nelson added, asking
people to keep that in mind for any future incidents.
Meanwhile, many area residents are wondering what to do about
electronic equipment that didn’t fare well in the power surge on
Saturday.
According to a First Energy representative, customers who lost
electronic equipment would each need to contact the electric
company’s customer service number to set up a claim.
The claims department then investigates the situation and will
get back to the customer regarding their individual case.
The representative explained the customer needs to provide the
date of when the power surge happened along with relevant
information.
According to Penn State Weather Communications, a storm swept
through the area between 6:50 and 8 p.m. Friday. Local emergency
crews responded to downed trees and power lines across the
county.
Penelec representative Russ VanHorn told The Era that several
hundred customers were without power following the storm, which had
brought with it high winds and lightning.
