Numerous roads were closed in the Saucon Valley area and thousands of residents remained without power in the wake of a violent storm that bombarded the Lehigh Valley with high winds and torrential rain Monday evening.
The Lower Saucon Township Police Department reported the following road closures in and around the township due to downed trees and/or power lines Tuesday morning:
- Saucon Valley Road between Bingen Road and Rt. 378 (Lower and Upper Saucon townships)
- Hafler Road
- Williams Church Road
- Friedensville Road between Meadows Road and Delancey Street (Society Hill)
Several roads were also closed in Hellertown borough following the storm, according to an email alert from borough officials that went out Monday evening.
Other parts of the Lehigh Valley ravaged by the severe storms included the Midway Manor neighborhood on Allentown’s east side, where a National Weather Service team is expected to survey damage in order to determine if it was caused by a tornado. LehighValleyNews.com reported that residents reported seeing a twister there, and that another NWS survey team is scheduled to visit the Afton Village neighborhood off W. Hopewell Road in Upper Saucon Township due to heavy storm damage there.
Around 9 p.m. Monday, PPL reported nearly 50,000 customers without power due to the storm. By Tuesday morning that number had been reduced by half, but thousands of customers remained in the dark across southern Lehigh, southern Northampton and upper Bucks counties.
The following outages involving hundreds (or more) of households were listed on the utility’s Outage Center map as of 9:30 a.m.
- 473 customers without power along and near Black River Road between Bingen Road and Rt. 378 in Lower Saucon Township
- 1,075 customers without power along/near Skibo Road, Friedensville Road, Hickory Hill Road and Bingen Road in Lower Saucon Township
- 730 customers without power along/near Easton Road, Apple Street, Wassergass Road and Lower Saucon Road in Lower Saucon Township
- 596 customers without power along/near Applebutter Road, Redington Road, Hexenkopf Road, Buttermilk Road and Raubsville Road in Lower Saucon and Williams townships
- 974 customers without power along Oakhurst Drive, Center Valley Parkway and various neighborhoods west of Rt. 378 in the Center Valley area (Upper Saucon Township), north of Coopersburg borough
- 168 customers without power in the area of the Afton Village neighborhood off W. Hopewell and Lanark roads in Upper Saucon Township
- 132 customers without power along Chestnut Hill Road, W. Hopewell Road and Applebutter Hill roads in Upper Saucon Township
- 554 customers without power along/near Flint Hill Road, Taylor Drive and Weyhill Drive in Upper Saucon Township; an area that includes the DeSales University campus.
Other areas without power across largely-rural upper Bucks county included the borough of Richlandtown and an area along the Rt. 309 corridor from near W. Pumping Station Road in Richland Township to near N. Mine Road in Springfield Township.
The estimated times when power will be restored in these areas varied, and included noon, 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. Tuesday.
The severe weather that swept through the region has caused some power outages. Please know our crews are out working as safely and quickly as possible to restore every customer. Stay safe and report an outage by texting OUTAGE to TXTPPL or by visiting https://t.co/TN25vIL8Ik. pic.twitter.com/55h4LMNb45
— PPL Electric Utilities (@PPLElectric) August 8, 2023
“The severe weather that swept through the region has caused some power outages,” PPL said on Twitter. “Please know our crews are out working as safely and quickly as possible to restore every customer. Stay safe and report an outage by texting OUTAGE to TXTPPL or by visiting pplelectric.com/outages.”
To receive traffic safety and other alerts from the Lower Saucon Township Police Department, follow the department on Crimewatch. Residents can subscribe to receive email notifications from the Borough of Hellertown here.
Lower Saucon Township Police shared a photo of the storm damage that has closed Saucon Valley Road between Bingen Road and Rt. 378 in Lower and Upper Saucon townships. Pictured above, a large tree blocks the roadway near the township line. (Credit: Lower Saucon Township Police Department/Crimewatch)