While playing cards in our Ancient Oaks dining room, my wife Cathy remarked on the wind gusts slamming into the mature trees in ours and neighboring properties April 15. Seconds later, at 4 p.m., our backyard neighbor’s white pine toppled over the property line taking down utility wires and part of his chain link fence.

Tax Day proved taxing for a large number of residents who lost power and Internet.

Fortunately, crews contracted by PPL Electric Utilities arrived the next morning and freed the pinned down lines and restored power to the immediate neighborhood by around 4 p.m.

While the electric utility company handled the downed power lines and the connection to the house, we, as homeowners, are responsible for where the insulated weather head and meter were peeled off the side of our home, as well as removing the tree parts splayed across the lawn.

Electrician Travis Bering from Maitz Home Services was able to make the needed repairs just minutes before PPL juiced the power line.

According to a PPL media relations spokesperson, 39,000 customers spanning 28 of 29 counties were impacted during the event. The strongest winds were clocked at 49 mph. Only Susquehanna County was spared.

Of those who lost power, 231 customers live in the Ancient Oaks development.

Roughly 38,250 customers (98%) had their electricity restored within 24 hours. The rest had power restored by April 28.

Now that we have power back, we can finally watch the film we checked out from the Lower Macungie Library. Ironically, my wife and I had planned to munch microwave popcorn and watch “Twisters” April 15.

Ed Courrier is an independent contractor for the Lehigh Valley Press.