Local News-Monday, April 16th

You are not seeing things. Snow, rain, winds and ice are plaguing motorists today. A classic nor'easter has been pummeling most of the eastern seaboard since late Saturday, and a batch of cold air changed the rain to snow overnight. We have had reports of more that six inches of snow or more in the northern reaches of Schuylkill County, while Pottsville city is seeing just wet roads. To compound problems with the heavy, wet snow, we are experiencing high winds, knocking down tree limbs and killing power. PPL and municipal crews are doing their best to restore power. We have been attempting to reach PPL to determine the status of those outages. In southern Schuylkill County, we are still seeing snow showers, but roads are mainly wet right now.

The wild spring storm that has blanketed our area has played havoc with electrical service across the region. Paul Canevari, PPL spokesman tells WPPA/T102 that system wide, more than 48 thousand customers are without power. In the Frackville service area, PPL's hardest hit area, the 10-thousand-600 customers should have power restored by 10pm Tuesday. The same time window applies for customers in the 14-hundred homes and businesses in the Orwigsburg area, and the nearly 3-thousand-PPL customers covered by the Marion Heights service area.
Service crews from the Lancaster and Harrisburg regions are being re-directed to the hardest hit areas to bring electric service back on line.

A Frackville teenager is dead as the result of a multiple vehicle crash in Butler Township Saturday night. Township police report that 17-year-old Corrine Kushwarra was south bound on Route 61 between Frackville and Ashland when her Chevy Cavalier crashed into the northbound vehicle driven by Susan Troup of Ashland. Kushwarra was trapped in her vehicle and had to be extricated from her car before being transported to Geisinger Medical Center in Danville. She died at the hospital on Sunday. Troup was taken to St. Catherine's Medical Center for treatment, then released. A passenger, Randy Troup, was taken to Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center for treatment. The crash, which happened after 9pm Saturday, is under investigation.

A MarLin man was injured in a DUI-related crash in the borough of Mount Carbon Saturday morning. Schuylkill Haven State Police say that 45-year-old Thomas Shappell was traveling west on Main Street in Mount Carbon when he struck a parked car. Shappell was not hurt, but troopers determined that he was driving under the influence of alcohol. Charges are pending the receipt of blood tests. Both vehicles were heavily damaged. The crash happened around 12:40am Saturday morning.

A Schuylkill Haven man is under arrested for driving a tractor drunk. State police stopped Alan Schnitler on Lowland Road in Washington Township just after midnight, driving a lawn tractor on the roadway. Troopers determine Schnitler was drunk. Charges will be filed following results of a blood test.

An Arkansas truck driver was injured following a crash on Interstate 81 in Delano Township Sunday morning. Frackville troopers report that Leandrew Moore of El Dorado, Arkansas was northbound on the Interstate when he lost control of his rig and hit an embankment. The impact caused the rig, carrying mineral oil, rolled onto its left side. The highway was closed for 4 and a half hours for cleanup. The crash happened around 5:30am.