State College Mayor Ezra Nanes addresses deadly storm, power outages and damage from April 29
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Here at AccuWeather, last night severe weather truly hit home.
00:03The deadly storm claimed a life here in State College, Pennsylvania.
00:07Joining us now is Ezra Naines.
00:09He is the mayor of State College and director of strategic account management at AccuWeather.
00:14And full disclosure, Ezra and I have been working together now for over 15 years.
00:19And it's just a sad situation here in State College and all of Center County.
00:25And, you know, Ezra, can you just give us a brief update on what you know right now with the sun up and getting a lot of the damage reports?
00:34Sure, Bernie, Ariella, great to be with you.
00:36And, yeah, we've worked together a long time.
00:37I honestly don't think I've seen something quite like this in this area of Pennsylvania before.
00:43Those winds were incredibly powerful.
00:46I personally thought I was going to have a tree on top of my house.
00:48But as the sun comes up right now, we've got 30,000 to 40,000 people without power across the county.
00:55Our downtown is dark.
00:57Our municipal building is dark.
00:58We've delayed our tax filing deadline by a day to accommodate for that.
01:03And, sadly, we did have one death in the borough yesterday.
01:07A young man went out to try to put out a fire that was started on some mulch by a downed power line
01:13and sadly came into contact with that line and was electrocuted.
01:17So, gosh, I will say a cautionary tale.
01:21Stay far away from downed power lines if you see them.
01:25And, Ezra, much of state college is without power.
01:28What are your teams telling you?
01:30Is there any estimated timeline when the power could be restored?
01:35I wish I could tell you I'm in constant contact with our borough manager, our county, even the governor's team.
01:41And, to be honest, we do not have an ETA for that power to be restored right now.
01:46We've got – there are teams out there working around the clock to restore, and there are so many downed lines.
01:52There are just trees knocked over, tangled in lines.
01:56So, right now we're not getting an accurate estimate of when that will be restored.
01:59So, best thing we can do is sit tight, keep those refrigerators closed, do what you can to get through this time,
02:06help your neighbors and friends.
02:08But we do not know when that power is going to be restored.
02:12All right.
02:12For people who haven't maybe made their way out and about yet, is there any other damage that you can tell us about?
02:17Are roadways blocked by downed trees?
02:19I know you already described some of the property damage as well.
02:21Yes, Ariella, there are at least nine roads within the borough that are currently closed because trees have come down,
02:29and in some cases they've pulled down power lines.
02:32So, we've got public works out there, we've got first responders, we've got line crews out there working to clear those very dangerous situations.
02:41So, I want to reiterate again, and I don't think I could say this enough times,
02:45if you see those crews working, please keep a good distance, stay away, because those power lines can kill.
02:52And after the fact, after they've worked and gotten that power back on and things are safe,
02:57please take the time to thank your first responders, the line crews, anybody involved, the public works teams,
03:03because they are doing everything they can right now to deal with a very complicated and difficult situation.
03:09And Ezra, what's your safety message?
03:11Again, I know you want to reiterate this to the residents.
03:14Not only in State College, but even across Center County, where their power is out.
03:21Absolutely.
03:21If your power is out, best thing you can do right now, if you're able to, is just stay home,
03:27keep your refrigerator closed.
03:28If you're able to get some ice, take some of those perishables out of the fridge and put them in a cooler.
03:33But if you see a downed power line, first thing you do, stay away.
03:37Stay at least 30 feet away from that downed power line and call 911 to report it.
03:42And our teams, all the teams, emergency first responders and line crews need to know where those issues are.
03:49And I've had people actually reach out to me, and then they've subsequently reported those downed lines.
03:54Do not try to fix it.
03:56Don't pull branches off it.
03:57Just stay away, because it can be very dangerous for you.
04:01Ezra Daines, Mayor of State College and Director of Strategic Account Management at AccuWeather.
04:08You know, let's get through this, Ezra.
04:10Thanks for the update, and plead heed his warnings here to stay safe during this difficult time.