After reeling from two separate storms which rocked the area Friday and Sunday, Pennsylvania Power Co. had electricity restored to all but a dozen or so of its customers by late Monday afternoon.

"We've had some glitches here and there, but mostly it's been little stuff,'' said Randy Coleman, area manager for Penn Power.

A Fourth of July storm left 8,500 of the utility's customers without power and electricity was restored to nearly all of them when Sunday's storm hit, leaving about 1,400 without power.

Coleman said he was unsure how many customers felt the double whammy.

Utility crews were called in from throughout the region, including Oil City and Altoona plus Cleveland, Salem and Warren, Ohio. In all, 40 workers from outside Penn Power came to help.

"I can't remember us needing that much assistance in the past," Coleman said, adding Monday was too early to place a price tag on the cost of the storm. He said it will be in "the hundreds of thousands of dollars.''

Besides being without power, the storm dampened Independence Day celebrations in the area and canceled them altogether in Grove City.

Tarps covering cylinders to be used for the town's fireworks display Friday night weren't able to keep the water out and safety became an issue for Pyrotecnico employees who were hired to light up the night sky.

"The man from (the fireworks company) told me in the morning that fireworks can be set off in the rain as long as there's not wind or electrical concerns," said Mary Kay Mattocks, who was in charge of the borough's Fourth of July events. "We knew there was a chance of rain and he was prepared for that, but no one was prepared for what happened," she said.

The National Weather Service in Pittsburgh said 1.48 inches of rain fell Friday afternoon, 1.08 inches of it within 45 minutes, and wind speeds likely topped 60 mph.

The special events committee, which helped to organize Grove City's celebration with sponsorship from the borough and Pine and Springfield townships, decided to cancel everything just to be safe. "I had to honor him, he's the expert on this," Mrs. Mattocks said of the Pyrotechnico employee. "They said they would come back and do the fireworks at the date of our choosing. The same show for the same amount of money," she said.

A new date and time for the fireworks, the patriotic program and the steel drum band Caribbean Music Connection, will be discussed and possibly set on Wednesday night, she said.

Additional storms on Sunday caused flooding throughout Grove City and other areas of the county.

While 1.86 inches of rain was recorded at Consumers Pennsylvania Water Co. Shenango Valley Division's water treatment plant in Sharon, residents of Hermitage, Sharpsville and Clark reported their swimming pools rose 3 inches or more.

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