Updated 12:45 a.m. April 30.
Tens of thousands of Centre County residents lost power on Tuesday evening after a line of severe thunderstorms moved through the area, taking down trees and utility lines.
As of 11:15 p.m., 36,591 Centre County homes and businesses — 53% of West Penn Power customers in the county — were experiencing outages. That included 8,885 in State College (73.43% of customers), 5,955 in Patton Township (87.77%) and 6,767 in Ferguson Township (72.48%), according to West Penn’s outages website.
Nearly 100% of homes in Halfmoon Township, Snow Shoe Township, Snow Shoe Borough, Port Matilda and Burnside Township were without power, and Huston, Miles and Worth townships were all at more than 92% of customers experiencing outages.
Outages were reported throughout the county, and in most cases restoration times as of 11 p.m. were estimated for between 12:30 and 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, but by 12:45 a.m., the West Penn outages site stated only that the estimated times were being updated. Restoration times earlier in the evening had been estimated for 10:30 to 11 p.m.
Downed trees and power lines also caused numerous road closures throughout the area. Among the major extended closures were West College Avenue between Bristol Avenue and Whitehall Road in Ferguson Township, where eight utility poles were snapped during the storm, and Axemann Road between Steeplechase Drive and Rishel Hill Road in Spring Township due to a downed tree into wires. Both remained closed as of 12:45 a.m. Wednesday.
A State College man was killed after coming into contact with an electric current from a storm-damaged power line while trying to extinguish a mulch fire at around 7:15 p.m. Tuesday on the 1500 block of University Drive, according to borough police. His name is being withheld pending family notifications.
Centre County was under a severe thunderstorm watch until 10 p.m. on Tuesday. Between 5 and 6 p.m., the NWS issued multiple severe thunderstorm warning in the county, with the potential for damaging wind gusts up to 60 mph.
In Centre County, West Penn Power customers should report power outages online, by calling 1-888-544-4877 or by texting OUT to 544487.
While power outages should be reported only to your electric company, downed power lines should be reported by calling 911, according to West Penn Power. If you encounter a downed power line, do not touch it and stay at least 30 feet away.
