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Over 15,000 lose power

Sentinel photo by BRADLEY KREITZER
A crew works to clear fallen branches from a back yard of a home on Pannebaker Avenue Monday morning in Lewistown. The area was still without power since a storm ripped through Mifflin County Sunday evening, downing trees and power lines.

LEWISTOWN — Approximately 15,000 people were left without electrical service due to a strong thunderstorm that moved through the area Sunday evening.

The powerful storm hit Mifflin and Juniata counties Sunday evening around 5 p.m. According to the National Weather Service, wind speeds reached between 60 and 70 mph, leading to damage to utility poles and causing tree limbs to fall.

A representative of FirstEnergy, the parent company of Penelec, said the source of the power outage was lightning, which was “breaking trees down onto the highway, people’s yards and onto utility poles.”

According to FirstEnergy, incident reports started to come in between 5:30 and 6 p.m. Approximately 15,000 complaints were received.

According to the Lewistown Waste Water Treatment plant, Lewistown received 0.59 inches of rain during the storm.

As service crews continued to work on utility poles, more than 800 people were still without power as of Monday afternoon, but electric company officials estimated that service would be fully restored by 11 p.m.

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