Strong Thursday storms triggered a CPS power outage across Berks County, cutting electricity to 1,673 Met-Ed customers and 53 PPL customers early Thursday evening. The outage spread across several townships before crews and utilities moved into overnight restoration work.
Berks County outage totals
The outage was largest in Bernville and in Exeter, Greenwich, Penn, Pike, Robeson and Ruscombmanor townships. Those concentrations made the storm damage more than a scattered interruption; the disruption stretched across multiple parts of the county at once.
By the numbers, the storm left 1,726 customers without power at the peak reported total in Berks County. That figure comes from adding the 1,673 Met-Ed customers and 53 PPL customers affected early Thursday evening.
Wyomissing and Friday morning
PPL estimated service in the Wyomissing area would be back by 3:30 a.m. Friday. That estimate put one part of the storm response on a faster track than the broader countywide restoration effort.
FirstEnergy was still assessing the outages, and 888 of its customers were still without power in Berks as of 9 a.m. Friday. The gap between PPL's overnight estimate and the Friday morning FirstEnergy total shows the county was not back to normal on a single timetable.
Friday's remaining outages
For customers still waiting Friday morning, the practical question was not how the storms started but which utility still had open work in their area. The remaining 888 FirstEnergy customers made clear that the outage had not been fully resolved by the time the workday began.
The unresolved total also leaves one simple count hanging over Berks County: how many customers were still without power outside the Wyomissing area by Friday morning? The available figures show the county had a broad outage footprint, but restoration was moving at different speeds across utilities and townships.
