Palmer, Forks Suffer Power Outages from Sandy

It could have been worse.

For all the damage that Hurricane Sandy caused, especially at the Jersey Shore, Forks and Palmer Townships were spared the brunt of it.

For the most part, the most severe damage came from power outages, with Palmer getting hit harder.

As of 8:22 p.m. Tuesday night, 6,828 residents were still without power in Palmer. That was down from 8,248 earlier in the day, Met-Ed reported.

For Forks, 1,830 households were without power Tuesday evening, down significantly from 5,777 earlier Tuesday, Met-Ed's power outage map indicated.

Forks Township Supervisors Chairman Erik Chuss Tuesday afternnon feared that Forks could be without power "for an extensive period of time."

But power was restored for most of Forks by 5 p.m.

Palmer officials did not return phone calls and emails Tuesday, apparently because access was limited.

A drive through Palmer showed numerous trees ripped from their roots and widespread traffic signals out on Route 248. The Palmer Park Mall was closed for the second straight day as well.

Forks officials closed a stretch of Route 611 because of downed trees and power lines and Kesserville Road because some power polls were expected to fall.

Chuss said that the main Forks fire station had part of its roof ripped off Monday night.

Because of the damage from Hurricane Sandy, Forks Township officials pushed back trick-or-treating from Halloween Wednesday until 6-8 p.m. Saturday because of the power outages.

It was not known whether Palmer Township had also postponed its Halloween plans. Trick-or-treating was expected throughout the township from 6-8 p.m. Wednesday.