Aftermath Of Hurricane Sandy

Regional Updates

Dear Friend,

I have a few quick updates I wanted to share with you. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, many in our area remain without power, changes to absentee voting have been enacted and along the New Jersey coastline there is much devastation.

Southeast Pennsylvania currently accounts for the most outages in the state as of now with Philadelphia between 5,000-10,000 customers without power and Montgomery County at 50,000 customers without power. You can check the status of your area or report an outage through PECO.

This past Monday, Governor Corbett signed an executive order that allowed for absentee ballot applications to be extended if a county’s offices were closed during the storm. For Philadelphia and Montgomery County, applications were accepted until 5pm today, in person at the County Board of Elections. This morning, Governor Corbett extended the deadline for submission of those ballots to no later than Monday, November 5th at 5pm, also at the County Board of Elections, either by mail or in person.

Because Pennsylvanians often visit the many shore towns of New Jersey, I wanted to let you know New Jersey is still under a state of Emergency and re-entry to the states barrier islands and coastal communities has not been permitted for many towns yet. If you or someone you know wants to know when a community will reopen, please check by county. Because some county offices remain closed, please use their websites for updates on openings and potential requirements for entering. You can also request and find out more about Disaster Assistance through the federal government.

I hope everyone remains safe in the days that follow, and as always, it is an honor to represent you in Congress.

Sincerely,

Allyson Y. Schwartz

Member of Congress