Pa. digging out after historic winter storm

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — As snow-weary Pennsylvanians dug out, utilities struggled to restore power to thousands and crews worked to reopen closed roads after a record-breaking blizzard that dumped more than a foot of snow across the state.

Road crews opened eastbound Interstate 78 late this morning and the westbound lanes were open by early afternoon. Gov. Ed Rendell ordered Interstates 76, 476 and 676 reopened in the Philadelphia area at 5 a.m. Interstate 176 between Reading and Morgantown also reopened.

About 72,000 PECO customers remained without power in the Philadelphia area and fresh outages were still being reported as snow and ice brought down tree branches and wires, officials said.

In southwestern Pennsylvania, more than 20,000 Allegheny Energy customers and about 700 Duquesne Light customers are also still without power.

“We’re gearing up for what we think will be a several-day event,” PECO spokeswoman Cathy Engle said, adding that crews are on 12- to 16-hour shifts. “We’ll keep that up as long as it takes to get service restored to everybody.”

The storm has claimed at least five lives.