WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — Cleanup is underway after storms on Monday caused quite a bit of damage, mainly in parts of Luzerne County.
For the second day in a row, crews are back on South Main Street in Wilkes-Barre, working to clean up the mess the storm caused.
The number of homes and businesses without power that was in the thousands on Monday, is down to just a few dozen. Wilkes-Barre's fire chief tells Newswatch 16 power should be fully restored by Tuesday night.
At Abe's, no power means a day without hotdogs, but co-owner Scott Druby is just thankful Monday's thunderstorms are over.
"We were cooking and all of a sudden, I hear a big pop, this pole went down, the lights went off."
It wasn't just the pole outside his hot dog joint, but between 12 and 15 poles along South Main Street in Wilkes-Barre.
"I looked down the street, I couldn't believe it, it was a domino effect, all the way down, and down to the other side," Druby recalled.
A few storms hit this part of Luzerne County Monday afternoon, causing damage all over, but the storm that rolled through right around 3:30 p.m. is what caused all of this mess.
'I heard the storm passing through, then I heard trees falling, so I decided, 'Let me go investigate," Carlos Garcia said.
Wilkes-Barre fire officials tell Newswatch 16 that PPL was here within minutes, responding to the downed utility poles and live wires. Crews worked through the night, restoring power to the thousands affected in this part of the city.
"These guys are doing an amazing job. Every crew has its own pole to do, that's why they're doing it so fast."
PPL has several subcontractors here, and at one point, more than 30 vehicles working to clean up the mess.
"They did a great job, they picked up a lot. This was worse, yesterday every single pole from down there to the other end, were down. They did a great job," said Garcia.
This stretch of South Main Street in Wilkes-Barre is taking the longest, but Druby says as long as power is restored by Tuesday, customers can expect Abe's to be back open tomorrow.
"Tomorrow morning, 10 a.m., serving those hotdogs."
