NEWS INFORMATION FROM

THE OFFICE OF MAYOR STEPHEN R. REED
City of Harrisburg
King City Government Center
Harrisburg, PA 17101-1678
Telephone: 717.255.3040

FOR IMMEDIATE USE
19 September 2003

CLEAN-UP CONTINUES; SOME AREAS STILL WITHOUT POWER: SOME STREETS STILL BLOCKED, WARNINGS ISSUED

Harrisburg, PA—Mayor Stephen R. Reed this evening reported on on-going operations related to the effects of Tropical Storm Isabel:

The Mayor issued two warnings:

• A significant amount of debris is still hung-up in trees and sides of buildings and will eventually fall with future winds, which may again knock-out electrical power in localized areas
• Many downed trees still have live electrical lines in them and until PPL Electric Utility crews de-energize these lines, they remain dangerous and should not be explored or used as play areas by adults or children
• Two intersections remain without traffic signals due to power outages (North Second and Emerald Sts., and North Second and Radnor Sts.); Portable stop signs remain in place to halt traffic before proceeding through them; earlier, 13 intersections were without power
• Various areas of the city remain without electrical power; additional police patrols will occur during hours of darkness, utilizing extra duty police officers on overtime to prevent exploitation of the circumstance
• Multiple streets remain blocked by downed trees and limbs but because live electrical lines are wrapped around them, they cannot be cleared; all highways and streets previously blocked by downed debris without this problem have now been sufficiently cleared to allow traffic flow
• Multiple homes still have downed trees on them with live electrical lines; when lines are de-energized by PPL, city crews will remove the trees; many other homes and buildings have already been cleared of trees that struck them; major damage to homes and parked vehicles occurred citywide; city crews will not remove fallen trees and debris from privately-owned yards; their work is focused on trees and limbs along city streets
• City trash collection for Friday (Sept. 19) had earlier been cancelled, to prevent trash cans and trash from blowing everywhere; CUSTOMERS NORMALLY SERVICED FRIDAYS WILL HAVE THEIR TRASH picked-up Saturday, (Sept. 20).
• Massive amounts of downed debris exists citywide; during regular trash collection and regular streetsweeping, this debris will be picked up curbside
• Of the various rescues that occurred Thursday evening and Friday, one involved a man trapped inside a vehicle partially crushed by falling trees at 15th and Sycamore Streets, where 4 cars were damaged; parks maintenance crews extracted him
• Various injuries have occurred but none are serious or life-threatening
• High winds have downed streetlights and signs; an inventory is being made to start the replacement process
• Many city parks sustained major damage from downed trees, lights, signs and fencing; clean-up has started but it will take many days, especially in Reservoir Park, Riverfront Park and City Island
• High winds partially collapsed a vacant house at 129 Balm Street; city crews tore down the remaining part of Friday afternoon; the debris pile will be removed later
• Significant numbers of residents and businesses are reporting loss of telephone and cable television service, due to downed lines; those utility companies will have to make repairs in coming days
• Harrisburg School District classes were cancelled for Friday; school resumes on regular schedule Monday; the high school football game will be played on Saturday at Severance Field, where the new artificial turf has been installed
• Pennsylvania Task Force One, deployed to 4 locations across the state, was deactivated at Noon today as no water rescue work was needed since expected flooding in various areas never materialized
• The city water treatment plant, which lost electrical power, is back to normal operation with power restored; damage to a high pressure reducing valve in the UGI natural gas distribution system, which sent large volumes of gas into the Atmosphere at Front and Division Sts. Friday morning, has been repaired.

Reed said clean-up and recovery work will take at least several weeks.

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