While the rains and wind from Hurricane Sandy subsided in the Lehigh Valley within a matter of days, the financial and emotional toll continues to linger on.

The storm which pummeled coastal regions, destroyed property and left masses of people feeling helpless is now projected to cost $60 billion nationwide.

Approximately 443,000 Pennsylvania Power and Light customers lost power due to downed limbs and lines resulting from the Oct. 29 storm. The utility provider had 2,500 linesmen working on restoring power to all of their customers in the eastern part of the state. Vice President of Distribution Operations for PPL Dave Bonenberger said they worked diligently on staff logistics in order to restore service as swiftly as possible. He said the effort has been "immense, time consuming and labor intensive."

"The damage to our equipment in some places is severe," Bonenberger said. "Crews are sometimes uncovering even more destruction as they arrive at troubled locations."

PPL provided 10-pound bags of ice and three gallons of water a day for customers with extended outages. The supplies were made available at various Weis Markets, Redner's Markets and Wegman's locations.

The utility company brought in workers from at least 10 different states which more than tripled the existing PPL workforce.

Met-Ed, another local utility company, also had approximately 252,000 customers impacted by the storm.

Chief Deputy Coroner Paul F. Hoffman Sr., D-ABMDI confirmed seven deaths in Lehigh County attributed to Hurricane Sandy.

Governor Tom Corbett declared a statewide disaster emergency for Pennsylvania Oct. 26 to enable state, county and municipal governments to respond effectively to the impact of the hurricane.

The proclamation authorized state agencies to use all available resources and personnel, as necessary, to cope with the magnitude and severity of this emergency situation. The time-consuming bid and contract procedures, as well as other formalities normally prescribed by law, were waived for the duration of the proclamation.

Corbett issued the disaster proclamation based on the recommendation of Director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency Glenn Cannon and forecasts from the National Weather Service.

Staff at the state's Emergency Operations Center, located at PEMA headquarters in Harrisburg, monitored conditions statewide to assess conditions and coordinate to support county and local officials in affected areas.

Many local roads were closed due to downed trees, limbs and utility poles.

PennDOT provides a full listing of current closures along with the reason the road is impassible on their website. Motorists can check road conditions on more than 2,900 miles of state roads by calling 5-1-1 or visiting www.511PA.com.

PennDOT is advising drivers to use alternate routes when necessary and always avoid attempting to drive on a road marked as closed.

PennDOT Secretary Barry J. Schoch also temporarily waved commercial driver restrictions to quickly meet customer and business needs in the wake of the storm. Drivers carrying fuel, food, agricultural feed, pharmaceuticals and operational material necessary to respond to disaster relief were granted the ability to drive up to 14 hours, three hours more than the typical 11 hours before a mandatory rest period.

Most of the waivers expired Nov. 4 but drivers supplying equipment contributing to support of hurricane response efforts will have the waivers in place until Nov. 12.

The American Red Cross set up a shelter at Dieruff High School, Allentown School District, for residents of Lehigh and Northampton counties. The site was pet friendly and allowed people to take showers and come in if they had no heat, water or food. The organization is currently mobilizing their efforts for the harder hit areas in New Jersey and New York. The shoreline of New Jersey was drastically altered from the storm and residents of New York City are still struggling with destruction to their transportation resources and infrastructure.

A Red Cross telethon Nov. 3 raised $23 million in donations to support hurricane victims.

The Red Cross is always accepting donations to be applied to disaster relief and has reached critical levels of blood supplies due to canceled blood drives. Visit their website at www.redcrosslv.org.

On Oct. 31 St. Luke's University Health Network reassured the public its patients were being well cared for during Hurricane Sandy. Each hospital was fully staffed and supplied with food, water, linens and medical supplies for all patients and staff. St. Luke's Allentown Campus, Anderson Campus, Miners Campus, Quakertown Campus and Warren Campus operated with power fully intact. St. Luke's University Hospital- Bethlehem was powered by backup generators. On Oct. 30, each of the hospitals instituted an incident command situation to handle potential power outages and issues related to the weather.

Prior to the storm, extra food, water and supplies from vendors were delivered, staffing and planning for overnight stays were established and facilities were prepared for all possibilities.

St. Luke's University Health Network Chief Nursing Officer & COO of St. Luke's University Hospital – Bethlehem, Carol Kuplen said, "The St. Luke's administrators and staff throughout the Network are to be commended for the advance planning that goes on behind the scenes so the hospitals are able to continuously serve the community during times of crisis. We are extremely proud the level of care provided to our inpatients has not been affected by the storm and by the subsequent local power outages."

Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest and 17th St. remained on commercial power during the storm and afterward. Backup power was ready to go in the event power was lost at those two locations. LVH-Muhlenberg in Bethlehem was on generator power from about 9 p.m. Oct. 29 until about 11:30 a.m. Oct. 30. Some services like the cancer center at LVH-M were closed Tuesday. It reopened on Wednesday. Any cases that needed to be were transferred to the Cedar Crest site. The Cedar Crest Professional Park across from the hospital in Salisbury was without power much of the week as were many of the community health centers. Information to alert patients about any closings/cancellations was posted in the banner on the website, lvhn.org, throughout the week. Staffing went well throughout the storm and into the middle of the week as things began to get back to normal. The hospital made arrangements and did have more than 150 staff sleep at the three hospital sites overnight Monday and Tuesday to ensure adequate staffing in the event some could not make it in due to damage and road closings.