Power Restored to Downtown High Rise Office Tower

The high-rise office building at 1 W. Broad St. and the neighborhood around it lost electricity for a little less than an hour-and-a-half this morning because a tree limb had fallen on a power line, a PPL spokesman said.

Electricity to the neighborhood was lost at about 10 a.m. this morning. A Breaking News Network alert said Bethlehem police were setting up traffic control at key intersections around Linden Street and E. Market Street.

Meanwhile, a Patch Twitter follower reported that power had gone out at One Bethlehem Plaza – the 11-story office building at W. Broad and New streets. The tweeter also told Patch that there was no water service to the 10^th floor of the building where she works.

At the time, PPL Electric Utilities was reporting that 485 residential customers were also without electricity.

At a little after 11 a.m., fire alarms went off inside the office tower, which prompted the tweeter to report that the building was being evacuated. But within 10 minutes of that, power had been restored.