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Power Outage Halts Holiday Business in Poconos

STROUD TOWNSHIP — A power outage in Monroe County left thousands in the dark, including the Stroud Mall and several other businesses along Route 611. This...

STROUD TOWNSHIP -- A power outage in Monroe County left thousands in the dark, including the Stroud Mall and several other businesses along Route 611.

This outage came on the Columbus Day holiday, a day that retailers see a lot of extra business.

Unfortunately while the lights were out, that business was put on hold.

Inside the Stroud Mall it was a ghost town after a power outage sent the building into darkness and many stores shuttered their doors.

And the power was out at numerous businesses surrounding the mall, including restaurants and several car dealerships on Route 611 near Stroudsburg.

This was a major blow for retailers who see the Columbus Day holiday as a big day for business.

“We are getting discouraged,” said Dawn Vititoe, who owns Wireless Dimensions inside the mall. “At first we were like, okay it`s not going to be too bad and then we waited a little longer and a little longer and rents are due and I`m like, what are you going to do?”

“It’s a big day. We expect business here and there`s nothing happening,” said Jim Kish at Gray’s Pre-Owned Auto. “We can`t do paper work. Everything`s down. Phones are down. Computers are down.”

Those holiday shoppers were turned away at almost every door they tried in Stroud Township.

“We came out to go shopping and all the stores were closed,” said Dolores Berg of Stroudsburg. “We went up further to Lowe`s and all those stores, they were out, too. The lights were out.”

“Me and my grandmother came to go to lunch and we were going to stop and shop a little bit,” said Brielle Johnson of Stroudsburg. “I guess it’s not going to happen.”

PPL says a downed wire in the wooded area behind Route 611 caused the lights to go out just after noon Monday.

As crews worked to fix the problem, the employees at Texas Roadhouse found a way to pass the time by playing a game of baseball in the parking lot.

“Right now we`re having fun. Hopefully the power comes back on. If it don`t, we go back home to families and have fun,” said Joe Rodriguez.

The power came back nearly five hours later just before 5 p.m. and it was back to business as usual.

Still, workers say the financial hit does hurt.

“We`re probably going to take about a seven, eight grand loss,” said Rodriguez.

PPL believes the outage was caused by a previous lightning strike hitting that wire, which weakened it, causing it to fail today.

 

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