Pocono News Section

Lily Lake Community In The Dark

Lily Lake Community In The Dark - Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 4:27PM EST

Reported by: Jill Konopka
Thursday, Jun 12, 2008 @ 04:27pm EST
((LILY LAKE, Luzerne County) - It's been almost 48-hours without power and water for dozens living on lily lake.

UGI Utilities blames it on a pair of pine trees. They came crashing down on live wires during Tuesday's storm.

Landing on top of Stan Sherrick's home here on Lily Lake Road.

Cheryl Whitebread is affected by the power outage, “Some electricity was restored last night to the lower part of Pond Hill, but the rest of Lily Lake is without power." Initially, 250 customers around the lake lost power. The lights are now back on for three-quarters of the community.

But, a generator's still going strong at Cheryl Whitebread's home. She drove to Shickshinny to do her family's laundry. Cheryl Whitebread added, "I'm here to do laundry because we have no water, no electricity and (laughing) it makes it pretty rough.” We later found Power Company crews cutting the toppled trees piece by piece.

UGI Officials hope to have all the juice restored shortly. Chief Dale Rockel works with the Pond Hill/Lily Lake Fire Company, "It's tough with no water, phone lines not working with upper side so if there's an emergency, people can't get a hold of us.” The military and the power company already dropped off two water buffalos.

Over here the fire company set up to portable ponds so people can fill up and flush their toilets." For now, families are filling up on free drinking water. Neighboring communities have helped out too.

Slocum Township Ambulance Paramedic, "Alright we'll bring it back down 40 cases of water, alright then-thanks hon." UGI Utilities hopes to have all but about 100 customers reconnected by Thursday night. They ask for your patience. A few people could be in the dark until tomorrow.