SHAMOKIN - School is back in session and all county and municipal offices closed during the this week's storm are reopened.
After being closed Monday and Tuesday, classes resume today at Mount Carmel Area, Shamokin Area and Southern Columbia Area schools, as well as Our Lady of Lourdes Regional School.
Shamokin Area will have a full day of school Thursday, which originally had been scheduled as an early dismissal day.
Students of Lourdes Regional will dismiss at 12:15 p.m. Thursday as planned. Teachers will remain for CPR and AED training.
Northumberland County, which had been functioning on a limited capacity during the storm, is back up and running at full capacity and all offices will be open today, county officials said.
The remnants of Hurricane Sandy brought about strong winds overnight Monday into early Tuesday morning.
The winds felled a large tree outside Shamokin Post Office.
An even larger tree in Mount Carmel's Town Park was uprooted and knocked over; same story for a tree just outside Knoebels Amusement Resort.
Shingles and siding once attached to homes could be spotted laying in the streets of the Shamokin, Coal Township and Mount Carmel areas.
"The main thing is people should check their attics. The shingles have to come from somewhere," said Mount Carmel Mayor J. Kevin Jones.
Jones said the borough's code officer is checking on blighted properties to ensure no further hazards were created by the storm. As for Town Park, he said it will be cleaned up in time for a time-capsule rededication at 1 p.m. Saturday as part of Mount Carmel's 150th anniversary.
Kevin Richardson, street department foreman for Shamokin, said his crew was working to keep drains clear of fallen leaves up to 8 p.m. Monday. They went back to it Tuesday morning.
He and crew members pointed out some storm damage - a rubber roof torn off a home at Shamokin and Clay streets; an old Texaco sign knocked down at Shamokin and Walnut streets; some minor flooding over a curb near Market and Independence streets in the city's downtown.
"We fared out pretty good," Richardson said.
Bill Kuzmick, Coal Township's roadmaster, felt the same.
He estimated a half-dozen trees fell on public streets in Ferndale and Edgewood and on Trevorton Road. Some others fell on private driveways.
A garage roof in the 1500 block of Hemlock Street was ripped apart, and it was reported a shed blew away nearby in the 1400 block of Wabash Street.
Kuzmick said leaves must dry out before they can be vacuumed off the streets. That may take a few more days because sunshine isn't forecast until Friday.
He was optimistic.
"We'll be back in business probably by Thursday," he said.
Back to normal
Northumberland County Emergency Operations Center fielded between 20 and 25 emergency calls during the storm between Monday and Tuesday, said Mark A. Cox, public information officer for Northumberland County Emergency Operations Center.
Route 125 was closed briefly, he said, as was the Hamilton underpass on Route 61 just outside Sunbury - a spot of frequent flooding during heavy rainfall.
There were no other reports of flash flooding, Cox said.
No one sought refuge at a Red Cross storm shelter established for the county at Shamokin Area Middle-High School closed Tuesday morning, he said.
A local command center set up at Shamokin Emergency and Rescue Squad, Mill Road Square on North Franklin Street, was closed by 9 a.m. Tuesday.
Paul Petrovich, general manager of Shamokin-Coal Township Joint Sewer Authority, said the authority's infrastructure was largely spared in the storm.
The authority kept a pump operating on South Rock Street near Shamokin Creek as a precautionary measure, he said.
The rains did turn the construction site at the authority's plant in Weigh Scales into a muddy mess, he said.