Pittsburgh-area residents without power for 2 days struggling to stay cool
ROSS TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KDKA) — People in Ross Township who have been without power for two days are growing frustrated.
Nina Lyons said she lost power just after 5 p.m. on Monday. About 48 hours later, the Laurel Gardens neighborhood resident is still without power.
"I thought this would be on in the morning," Lyons said. "Oh, we'll tough it out, so now they're saying multiple days, possibly Sunday. We can't do that. We just can't."
Monday's storms in Western Pennsylvania knocked out power to more than 85,000 Duquesne Light customers, largely due to 60 broken poles and 40 transformer issues, according to the power company.
This has left those impacted literally in the dark but also in the dark by Duquesne Light when simply asking for information.
"Called them numerous times, they kept saying they don't know when it's coming on," Lyons said. "Really there's no help there. You can't talk to anyone past the customer service."
"There's just been a lot of Duquesne Light saying Ross Township needs to this, Ross Township saying Duquesne Light needs to do this. No one is really sure, and we don't know," Brianne Albert of Laurel Gardens said.
Since Monday, Duquesne Light crews have been working around the clock to restore power. The power company has brought in help from all over the country. KDKA-TV saw crews from Appalachian Power in Tennessee working on lines in Ross Township on Wednesday.
While this is a welcome sign to the community, some people believe it could have been handled better.
"The biggest problem we've had is the lack of communication," Laurel Gardens Fire Chief Raymond Hillenbrand said.
Hillenbrand said his number one job is to take care of his people and the only way he can do that is with information. He said information is not being provided by Duquesne Light.
"If Duquesne Light would have called up and said it's going to be four days before you get power back on, that's fine," he said.
Right now, there are no cooling stations in Ross Township. Hillenbrand said officials are in the process of setting one up now.