SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, Pa. — Crews were working into the night trying to bring power back to thousands of homes and businesses across Schuylkill County following Tuesday's winter storm.
"We have our hands full in mileage alone, so we've kept to ourselves," said Chief James Bonner, West Penn Township Police.
For West Penn Township Police Chief James Bonner, it's been 20-hour shifts for him and his fellow officers as they've worked to check on those affected.
"Doing a lot of house checks, we have a lot of people that are out of electricity, elderly people, so we've been checking in on them on a periodic basis," said Chief Bonner.
"The last few days of been really rough," said Brian Frankenfield, West Penn Township.
A warming shelter was set up in the township fire hall. Brian Frankenfield and his family were among the first to sign in.
"They say no services at all, so you couldn't cook, you couldn't heat water, couldn't do none of that," said Frankenfield.
Blankets filled the trunk of Frankenfield's SUV. He and his family were prepared to spend the night until he heard some welcoming news; the power was back on.
"Dress feel great, man, dressed warm. Go over to the house. It might be semi-warm by the time we get there," said Frankenfield.
As Frankenfield and his family said goodbye to new friends they made at the warming shelter, Chief Bonner says there is still work to be done, "I don't ever remember a storm that took out so much, powerlines, trees. This was a heavy storm, and it really kicked our butts."
PPL hopes to restore power to the remaining impacted homes and businesses by sometime Thursday. To check outages near you, head to PPL's Outage Map by clicking here.