Pittsburgh-area residents leaving home as thousands remain without power

SHALER, Pa. — With thousands in the Pittsburgh region still without power, Duquesne Light Company and First Energy say they have had crews working around the clock.

On Wednesday morning in Shaler, Duquesne Light confirmed that more than 700 homes were without power. As of Wednesday afternoon, that number is less than 100 according to their website.

The number of customers without power since this week’s storms has gone down, but many people have already packed up and left their homes.

“I live in Brookville Pennsylvania, and she called, and I said I’ll be down,” said Patti Hurd.

Hurd traveled two hours from Brookville to Shaler to help her daughter who lost power during Monday night’s storm.

“I came down to get the dogs and clean out her refrigerator and freezers,” said Hurd.

Hurd told Channel 11 News after her daughter spent Tuesday in the heat, she began to worry.

“The last they told her was maybe Sunday, hopefully, that’s not the case,” Hurd explained.

Fortunately, that wasn’t the case. Power was restored just hours after Hurd left.

Neighbors told us with no communication from Duquesne Light, they began making accommodations like buying generators, booking hotels and traveling to stay with loved ones.

“That is what is really frustrating is the fact that there is no communication because hey, stuff happens. If it’s bad, if we are last on the list so be it but if you can tell me that. It makes a frustrating situation so much less so,” said Shaler resident Maila Rible.

We also reached out to Duquesne Light, which provided the following statement:

“Local crews and additional manpower from Ohio and West Virginia were working around the clock.”

Duquesne Light said everyone may not be back on until Sunday afternoon.

First Energy also serves parts of Allegheny County.

First Energy initially had more than 60,000 customers without power Monday night, and have been updating their website every 15 minutes.

“Our crews have done a great job working 16-hour days. That number has dropped down to about 2000 customers,” said Todd Meyers, a spokesperson for First Energy.

Both service providers, Duquesne Light and First Energy, said they will continue to update their websites throughout the evening. First Energy is estimated to have power restored by this evening, and Duquesne Light by Sunday.

“It leaves me wondering if Duquesne Light is prepared for this and if not what are they doing to try to improve,” Rible said.

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