This screenshot of the PPL Outage Center map shows the extent of the power outage that affected parts of Hellertown borough and Lower Saucon Township Tuesday morning.
UPDATE (11:10 am): Power is back on at the Saucon Valley School District campus and early dismissal has been canceled by the superintendent. Power has also been restored in many of the affected parts of the Saucon Valley. The power outage was caused when a tree fell on wires on Silver Creek Road in Lower Saucon Township. Silver Creek Road near Lower Saucon Road was closed until further notice while the tree and wires are cleared from the roadway. Approximately 63 PPL customers were still without power in that area as of 11:20 a.m. Tuesday, per the company.
A PPL crew works to repair damage to wires that occurred when vegetation took them down along Silver Creek Road near Lower Saucon Road in Lower Saucon Township Tuesday morning.
UPDATE: Saucon Valley School District has announced early dismissal for students as a result of the power outage. High school and middle school students will be dismissed at 11:30 a.m., and elementary students will be dismissed at 12:15 p.m.
large-scale power outage is affecting nearly 2,200 PPL customers in parts of Hellertown borough and eastern Lower Saucon Township, including much of the Wassergass area and the Saucon Valley School District campus as of 10:15 a.m. Tuesday.
The outage extends south from the area of W. Chestnut Street in Hellertown to Polk Valley Road, north to past Apple Street and Wilhelm Road, and east past Lower Saucon Road south of Bergy’s.
All of Wassergass, Silver Creek and Polk Valley roads between Lower Saucon Road and Hellertown borough are without power, according to PPL’s outage center map, whch doesn’t identify a cause for the outage but states that crews have been dispatched to address whatever caused it.
The estimated repair time for customers currently without power is 1:30 p.m., per the outage center map
Many borough businesses along Main Street south of Chestnut are reportedly without power and traffic lights along that stretch of Rt. 412 are also reportedly out. A message from a Saucon Valley School District administrator indicated the elementary school is currently in an administrative lockdown due to the outage, with students being kept in classrooms.
When traffic lights are non-functional motorists should approach them as they would a four-way stop sign.
Saucon Source has tweeted @PPLElectric requesting more information about the cause of the outage.
@PPLElectric There is a large power outage affecting parts of Hellertown and Lower Saucon Township. Do you have a cause identified yet? Thanks.
— Josh Popichak (@JoshPopichak) May 22, 2018
