Sloppy storm backs up traffic, brings down trees and wires – Scranton Times-Tribune

Once on the interstate, near the Route 315 exit, traffic came to a complete stop.

“It looked like a tractor-trailer jackknifed in the middle of the road,” she said. “Northbound was also at a complete stop, as well.”

At that point, Kobeski decided to head back home, getting off at the first exit she could.

Although her plan was to work from home, that plan was somewhat tenuous, she said.

“We do have power now, but the lights have been flickering all day, though,” she said. “So, I’m kind of on and off.”

Kobeski said his internet was also spotty.

“I have a 14-year-old doing school from home,” she said. “When it’s on, it’s on and when it’s not, it’s not.”

Kobeski said she was glad to be home safely, but doesn’t regret trying to make it into work in health care.

“You always have to give it a try,” she said. “Or, you don’t know if you can get in (to work) or not.”

Up to 19 inches

Earlier in the week, weather forecasters warned that precipitation totals would depend on elevation and temperatures.

Michael Murphy, lead meteorologist with the National Weather Service, Binghamton, said the agency’s predictions were correct, with many areas in Lackawanna County getting totals in the upper limits of those forecasts.

For example, downtown Scranton got seven inches, Moosic got six inches, Newtown Twp. got eight inches and Clarks Green got up to 12 inches.

Jefferson Twp., in the eastern part of the county, came in at 19 inches of snow.

Murphy said the snow was heavy and wet and it clung to trees and wires. In some cases the weight brought the trees and wires down.

In the northern part of the county, Tomkinsville got 10 inches, Clifford 17 inches and Richmondale 19 inches.

Murphy said he expected precipitation to wrap up Friday afternoon.

Being prepared

Amber Sheridan, who lives in Newton Twp. and owns a daycare center there, said she prepared for the worst when it came to Friday’s weather.

On Thursday evening, she announced a two-hour delay, after a forecast which included variable amounts of snow expected for the area, which ranged from three to 10 inches.

“It bought us some time to wake up in the morning and see what we actually got,” she said.

Sheridan’s husband does snow plowing in the area and woke up before 4 am to start clearing roads.

Sheridan called him and asked him how the roads looked at about 5 am

“He said they weren’t too bad, but there were a lot of trees and power lines down,” she said. “And, it’s going to keep snowing.”

So, Sheridan made the decision to close the center, rather than to put staff members out on dangerous roads.

She had prepared parents ahead of time for a possible closure.

“I don’t think they were too surprised. Most of them just looked out their window and thought it was the safest option,” she said.

Sheridan’s power went on and off several times, but many of her neighbors didn’t have power.

Sheridan’s staff was able to work from home Friday, completing an online training.

Those who didn’t have internet would be completing it over the weekend, she said.

power woes

Emergency crews were busy responding to reports of trees and wires down throughout the county through the morning and well into the afternoon.

Multiple crashes were reported throughout the area, some with injuries, because of slick roads, according to scanner reports.

Due to snowy conditions and downed wires, traffic slowed throughout the county and some roads were closed.

According to the PPL outage map at 3 pm, thousands of Lackawanna County customers were without electricity and crews were working to restore power to them by the end of the day.

Unlike most municipalities in the state, Blakely owns and operates its own electric distribution system.

So, when power went down just after 2:30 am on Friday morning, municipal workers immediately responded to restore electricity to residents.

Blakely Borough Manager Chris Paone said the outage was due to an especially heavy snow that clung to wires.

“Crews were able to restore power to two-thirds of the town within about an hour to an hour-and-a-half after clearing trees,” Paone said.

About an hour later, another batch of trees came down on power lines, and crews worked for about 30 minutes to clear those trees.

At about 2 pm, the borough was working to restore power to a handful of customers, of the 3,600 households they serve.

“The heavy snow is really taking its toll on the trees and the lines themselves,” he said. “This is some of the heaviest snow that we’ve seen in a long time. “It’s just wrapping around trees and wires.”

The borough cleared trees from the area of ​​power lines, but the especially heavy snow provided additional challenges.

“There are trees that are 50 to 60 feet away from power lines that are bending into them,” he said. “The trees aren’t designed to handle this type of weight and I know PPL is having a lot of issues, too.”

In addition to staff working to restore power, DPW workers were out plowing since 2 am, Paone said. “It’s been a catch-up game, we got a lot more snow than anyone thought we were going to get.”

Originally Published: November 22, 2024 at 10:35 AM EST