Lehigh Valley continues dealing with storm damage, power outages after Monday's severe weather
ALLENTOWN, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- Crews in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania continued to clean up and restore power on Wednesday after severe weather on Monday night.
The National Weather Service says an EF-1 tornado with max winds of 100 mph touched down in Allentown during the storm.
Officials say a survey team found extensive damage in the Midway Manor section of the city.
The twister, which touched down near East Pennsylvania Street between North Ulster Street and North Van Buren Street, was on the ground for three minutes, according to the NWS.
Eric Triminio and his family live in the neighborhood where the tornado hit. He said he was in disbelief when he got home to see a large tree uprooted in his front yard.
"This isn't the area for tornadoes. This isn't Kansas," Triminio joked. "I was kind of making fun of it."
PPL Electric Utilities says its crews have restored power to 73,000 customers since the storm. They said the damage is widespread.
"Even though there was a tornado confirmed in part of our service territory, we did see significant damage there, but it really did impact customers across the regions we serve," Dana Burns, PPL's director of communications, said.
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Burns said more than 900 people have been out working with PPL to get customers back online. She estimated the 2,500 customers still without power on Wednesday evening will have it back by the end of the night.
Meantime, the American Red Cross has stepped in to help.
Crews were out across Lehigh County to survey the damage and determine which homeowners may be in need of assistance.
"We're assessing the damage to determine if the client has essential living spaces that are impacted and if they can return home," Disaster Program Manager Danielle Henkel said.
