Death toll from rare October snowstorm!

ALLENTOWN, Pennsylvania - October 31, 2011 - Downed tree branches littered countless yards and many Pennsylvania residents braced for the possibility of several more days without power Monday as utility crews worked to repair the damage left by a late October snowstorm.

At least eight deaths in Pennsylvania were blamed on the storm, including that of an Emmaus man whom authorities believe was overcome by carbon monoxide as he burned charcoal in his home to keep warm.

The nor'easter dumped more than a foot of snow in some parts of the state on Saturday. More than 150,000 customers remained in the dark Monday, and utilities say it could be the end of the week before the last of the repairs is completed.

Anne Warschauer, a 91-year-old Holocaust survivor from Germany, refused to leave her home on a quiet tree-lined street in Allentown, even though the temperature inside had plummeted. "I'm freezing," she acknowledged. But she said she worried about her beloved cat, Pumpkin.

"They're not going to get the power back on until Thursday, Anne. You can't stay here," said her friend, 63-year-old Emma Saylor.

"I'm not going," Warschauer replied stubbornly. "So let's not talk about that anymore."

Down the street, Jay Wolf, 41, also stayed put, turning on the gas stove to heat his house. "You're not supposed to do that. It's dangerous," he said.

Electricity provider PPL spokesman Michael Wood said the storm presented an enormous challenge for utility crews because of the huge number of individual cases of trouble - 3,900, about 700 more cases than PPL handled during Hurricane Irene. Some 560 PPL transformers were damaged, each serving an average of four customers.

"We have a tremendous amount of work to do throughout the week," said Wood.

With downed trees hindering access to some areas, PPL and other utilitiy providers used helicopters to survey the damage.

Authorities attributed at least eight deaths to the storm. A 60-year-old Emmaus man died Sunday of suspected carbon monoxide poisoning from a charcoal grill he was using to heat his home, which lacked electricity, the Lehigh County Coroner's Office said. State police said an 84-year-old man was sleeping in his recliner Saturday when a tree fell on his house outside Reading, killing him instantly. At least six other people died in car crashes.

In Bethlehem, about 30 residents of a nine-storey apartment building were evacuated Monday after fumes from a generator being used to power the building were blown through the open doors, elevating carbon monoxide levels inside. Fire Chief George Barkanic said the building was ventilated and no one was hurt.

In the Harrisburg area, 10 emergency sirens near the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant remained out of commission. Exelon told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that 25 of the plant's 96 sirens lost power during the height of the storm. The plant had been in the process of replacing the sirens with new ones that include battery backup.

The freak pre-Halloween storm meant plenty of work for tree services hired to clear away debris.

U.S. Tree Service in Allentown took about 80 calls and dispatched three crews to remove fallen trees and tree limbs, said James Darcy, vice president of the family operated business. He said the hardest-hit areas " look like the aftermath of an explosion."