Pocono News Section

Power Problems Still Prevelant in the Poconos

Power Problems Still Prevelant in the Poconos - Wednesday, October 29, 2008 at 5:25PM EST

Reported by: Laurie Monteforte
Wednesday, Oct 29, 2008 @ 05:25pm EST
COOLBAUGH TWP., MONROE COUNTY- PPL estimates almost 2,500 homes in Monroe County are still without power after Tuesday’s storm.

One area hit hard is a private community, A Pocono Country Place. That's in Coolbaugh Township. Eyewitness News spoke with one family there who says they have a special reason to need their power on.

For the Moore family of Coolbaugh Township a power outage poses special problems. Carol Moore said, "My son is disabled and unable to walk or hold himself up."

The lights - heat - and everything else here shut down at about 11:00 Tuesday morning. Bill Moore said, "It had gone out about six times prior. It flickered on and off."

So when it went out for the last time - the family didn't worry. Julia Moore said, "I thought it was just gonna flicker. But it didn't it just stayed off. I'm like oh boy this isn't good."

After about an hour - they knew they'd have problems. "You got all these modern conveniences and right now they're paper weights," said Bill.

The Moore’s count on the TV and radio to keep matt calm. He has Cerebal Palsy and loves to listen to music and watch movies. "When that's gone then it's a problem," says Bill.

Without the technology to keep his mind occupied - Matt gets upset. Mom solved that problem with a trip to the store - to stock up on batteries.

But there were more problems. Matt uses a lift to get to his upstairs bedroom. Since Matt couldn't get upstairs, his mom made him a makeshift bed downstairs. "He was very tired because he was not too happy yesterday. No music, no TV, he couldn't go to school," she said.

The family made it through the night - with the help of a kerosene heater. And the hope that snow stays away for a while. "Spring time can't come anytime soon, right?" asked Carol.

Eyewitness News has just learned that the family's power is now back on, a full day earlier than PPL expected.

There are about 13,000 people still without power as of late Wednesday afternoon. Most should have service back Wednesday night, but for parts of the Poconos it could be late Thursday.