Hempfield Area closed for second day as wind-related power outages linger

Hempfield Area School District officials are hopeful classes will resume Wednesday after full electricity service was restored Tuesday to a few schools that were affected by Sunday’s high winds.

Maxwell Elementary is the last school remaining without power Tuesday after trees fell on power lines there, said district Superintendent Tammy Wolicki. Those trees must be removed before the lines can be repaired, she said.

Electricity was restored Tuesday at three buildings — Stanwood Elementary School, Harrold Middle School and Hempfield Area High School, Wolicki said. The buildings previously had limited electricity, which meant the heating systems weren’t fully operational.

More than 3,700 West Penn Power customers in Westmoreland County remained out of service at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. The Sunday wind storms downed trees, poles and wires, forced schools to adjust schedules and sent emergency responders to hundreds of calls.

About 130,000 West Penn customers were affected in the immediate aftermath and the utility has had crews working to make repairs in what is expected to be a “multi-day event.” Estimates for the restoration of service in Westmoreland County range from Wednesday to Saturday, according to the utility’s outage map.

“We have been and will continue to have regular communication with West Penn representatives regarding these issues,” Wolicki said in an email.

Hempfield Area was closed Monday and Tuesday. The school board will discuss possible makeup days next month.

The Westmoreland Intermediate Unit’s training and consultation team quickly planned a training session Tuesday for about 40 district nurses and paraprofessionals, said director Jason Conway. Paraprofessionals can be assigned to a classroom to help a teacher or to a specific student.

“It just shows the level of expertise that the Intermediate Unit employees have to be able to train, at a moment’s notice, our districts,” Conway said.

Penn-Trafford students were affected by power outages, too. Level Green Elementary School remained closed Tuesday and students and staff at that building will operate on a two-hour delay Wednesday, said Assistant Superintendent Scott Inglese.

“There’s a tree down that took out power lines,” he said.

Level Green Elementary students will be taken to the high school for classes Wednesday. Portable heaters are working in the elementary building to ward off frozen pipes and some food and drinks will have to be thrown away, Inglese said.

The entire district was closed Monday, but the majority of buildings had power restored that day, according to a message to parents.

Power outages affected schools elsewhere in the area, including Mother of Sorrows Catholic School in Murrysville, Bethlehem-Center in Washington County and South Park Elementary Center in Allegheny County.