Outages Remain as 'Code Blue' Weather Arrives

Montgomery County on Friday issued a 'Code Blue' warning of dangerously cold weather approaching an area where many residents still lack electricity after Hurricane Sandy.

According to the announcement:

The Code Blue will be for the two-day (48 hour) period beginning at Noon Saturday, November 3, 2012 until Noon Monday, November 5, 2012.

“Normally, a Code Blue declaration is issued when we are expecting colder weather,” said Josh Shapiro, chair of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners, “but with temperatures expected to dip into the 20s overnight Saturday and Sunday we believe it is prudent to declare a Code Blue given the fact that so many people in the county remain without power and heat.”

A Code Blue Cold Weather declaration is declared in Montgomery County when winter conditions pose a threat of serious harm or death to individuals without shelter.  A Code Blue is called when the combination of air temperature and wind chill is anticipated to be 20ºF or less.

The National Weather Service forecasts scattered clouds and mild to moderate wind throughout the weekend.

As of noon Friday, 2,041 PECO customers in Lower Merion (out of a total of about 22,000) still were without power following Hurricane Sandy, according to Police Superintendent Michael McGrath. PECO reported the borough of Narberth has "scattered outages," estimated by borough officials to be fewer than a dozen houses on one cul-de-sac.

Harriton High School has been without power since the storm. Lower Merion School District spokesman Doug Young told Patch on Friday, "We expect power to be restored to Harriton over the weekend and will communicate with families as soon as we know for sure."

The school is set to be a polling place in Tuesday's general election.

If you have an outage to report, call PECO at 800-841-4141.