Power restoration should be mostly complete by Monday night after windstorm, Duquesne Light says

Thousands of people in the Pittsburgh area remain without power on Monday after a major windstorm hit the region last week. 

Strong winds battered southwestern Pennsylvania on March 13, leaving behind downed trees, damaged power lines and widespread outages. About 280,000 Duquesne Light and First Energy customers were without power during the storm's peak on March 13. Since then, power crews have been working around the clock to restore power as Monday's wintry mix approaches. 

"Not five minutes after the power went off, this tree that is across the street from us had gone down," Tammi Nalepa with the Rennerdale Corner Store Pizzeria said.

Duquesne Light power outage restoration 

Thousands of Duquesne Light customers were still without power as of Monday evening. According to the power company, most people should have their power restored by 10 p.m. on Monday. Duquesne Light said it was delayed in its initial response due to strong winds, as crews could not get into bucket trucks.

"We really couldn't hit it as strongly as we would have liked until Saturday morning, once those winds died down," Duquesne Light Director of Communications and Brand Matt Neistein said on Monday.

Since last year's windstorm, Duquesne Light has put technology in place to help identify where and what is causing outages. The power company also made the call to get help from out-of-state crews sooner. More than 560 crews from as far away as Canada and Florida have come to the region.

"We have more trucks coming in today with more crews coming in to help today. We called for more help faster than last time as well," Neistein said.

If you see a downed power line, stay at least 30 feet away.