Thousands still in the dark as crews work to restore power in Schuylkill, Berks counties - 69News WFMZ-TV

Thousands still in the dark as crews work to restore power in Schuylkill, Berks counties | Berks Regional News | wfmz.com

Hundreds in Berks County and thousands in Schuylkill County could be in for another cold night after snow and wind brought down tree limbs and power lines.

"With the wind and the heavy snow, a bunch of trees came down," said Marci Barnes. "It collapsed my portable garage there and then fell on my roof. "

Barnes described the winter storm damage to her North Manheim Township home.

"My power was on and off," said Barnes. "So the power people were here out front all night long."

Barnes is not the only one in Schuylkill County without power.

"About 11,000 customers without power," said Tracie Witter, manager of external communications at PPL Electric Utility. "We know it's difficult for our customers to be without power, especially on Valentine's Day."

Met-Ed said a thousand people are also without power in Berks County.

PPL said because of the heavy, wet snow, crews found a number of trees that fell on power lines.

Since the start of the storm, PPL has restored power to more than 125,000 of its one-and-a-half million customers.

"One of the items that we want to remind our customers about is if there's a downed line on the ground to never approach it, because you want to always assume that it's energized," said Witter.

PPL offered advice to those still waiting for the lights to turn back on and the heat to crank up.

"We suggest that they go to one of the county warming stations that have been established," said Witter.

PPL maximized its resources and has called in hundreds of additional personnel to help with restoration.

Met-Ed is aiming to have the lights back on by late Wednesday night in Berks County.

But PPL said repairs could continue into Thursday. Customers in Schuylkill County are expected to have power restored by Thursday night at 11p.m.