SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, Pa. — There are more than 3,000 homes and businesses in Susquehanna County without power, and that number includes some farms. The heavy snow that fell Tuesday is bad for the crops already planted, and dairy farms need to keep the milk from the cows cold.
It was business as usual at Cold Creek Farm near Dimock on Thursday. The Wright family continues to tend to their 400 dairy cows, despite not having power since early Tuesday morning. They currently have a generator powering the entire farm and hope it keeps working to make sure their product makes it to store shelves.
"The milk goes bad. And then you feel that as a customer. If there's no milk that can be shipped out, there's no milk in the store. No milk in the store, no cereal in the morning, no milk for your coffee," Mack Wright said.
The diesel to fuel the generator comes at a great cost—$1,000 for each refill—but the Wright family says they'll take it.
"We did get a fuel delivery this morning, thankfully, so we'll be able to make it through the weekend without a problem. But still, it just adds more hurdles. We already have enough things to do in a day, never mind adding the lack of power, phone, internet to keep in touch with everybody, so that's been another challenge," Brittany Wright said.
It's more of the same at LaRue's farm nearby. They have beef cows and crops to tend to, and both rely on electricity.
"I've been monitoring the propane tank because we have greenhouses running on it. And just making sure we have enough propane to last until it comes back on," Ben LaRue said.
The LaRues had already started planting in the fields and had to protect the tunnels from collapsing from the weight of the heavy snow. The biggest concern is the sweet corn that they planted last week.
"He hasn't checked it yet. So that would push us back a couple of weeks anyway if that sweet corn doesn't germinate or it rots in the ground," Renee LaRue said.
Both farms say they're OK for now, but hope power is restored before the weekend so they don't have to rely on the generators to protect their businesses.
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