All Bethlehem recycling centers are closed Monday and Tuesday and there will be no curbside collection either day.

The American Red Cross will open an evacuation shelter at noon Monday, Oct. 29, at 2121 City Line Road in Bethlehem to help residents affected by Hurricane Sandy.

From the Morning Call website: Recycling pick up for Mon. and Tues. in Bethlehem has been canceled. Lanta buses are canceled for today. A decision regarding service for tomorrow will be made at three PM today. LANtaVan specialized transportation service will run today for dialysis and emergent medical needs.

The city of Bethlehem has declared a "state of emergency" as of 10:30 a.m. Historically flood-prone streets in the Saucon Park area and along the Monocacy Creek, including Conestoga Street and Mauch Chunk Road, will be evacuated as of 3 p.m.

Bethlehem Area School District schools will be closed on Tuesday.

Millard Street in Bethlehem is closed between Edgeboro Blvd. and Sycamore St. due to a power live power line problem.

According to PPL Outage Center, about 27,000 Bethlehem customers are currently without electricity.

Posted on the Bethlehem Township Police Department Facebook page:
Update on conditions in Bethlehem Township. At this time the power is out to much of the township. High winds and numerous fallen trees have caused many downed wires and electrical short circuits. Many traffic signals and most street lights are out. On a positive note, we have not seen much of a flooding problem in the township at this time. Our road crew has been out all night, and will continue to be out, removing fallen trees from the roadways as quickly as possible after they are found. This has kept the majority of our roadways open and passable. However, most roadways are littered with fallen debris such as branches and leaves. There is still a good deal of the storm yet to come. We recommend that you do not drive anywhere if it is not necessary. If you do decide to drive on the roadways, please be cautious, and remember that there is a lot of debris and there may be dangers such as fallen power lines that have not yet been found. As daylight arrives we will be able to assess conditions a bit better. Unfortunately we can give you no info regarding the restoration of electrical power, as this is something that is totally up to the utility company. Bucket truck crews have not yet been out making repairs, as the storm is still activley moving through the area.

Easton Ave. in Bethlehem in the neighborhood of St. Anne's church appears to be without power and has been since last night around 10:30 PM. This includes the east side of Sycamore St. also. Millard St. between Sycamore and Edgeboro Blvd. remains closed and large tree limbs are down. Power remains on in most homes but a live wire is loose. Route 22 eastbound traffic is being diverted to rt. 33 or rt. 378 as of 6 AM this morning. If traveling to Easton or NJ please check local city web pages to determine if non-emergency vehicles are allowed to pass.

our entire area pointe north hanover township bethlehem has been without power since 8:20 pm last night.

City officials say 54 intersections with traffic lights are without power. Bethlehem Police say motorists are to treat each of them as you would a four-way stop sign.

Bethlehem Area Public Library will remain closed today: http://patch.com/B-c4FS

About 30,000 city homes remain without power. PPL says it has no estimate on when power might be restored.

For a hot cup of joe and a charge for your mobile device, The Wise Bean http://patch.com/L-sCBX, 634 N. New St., is open for business.

Bethlehem Area School Superintendent Joseph Roy tweets that 20 of the district's 22 schools are currently without power. But he expects that to change during the course of the day.

Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan just posted the following on his Facebook page:

Just a quick note: city hall is running on generator power and full crews are out clearing debris from roads.

Please be extra careful out there and stay home if at all possible to allow the streets work to be completed unfettered. Remember do not go around barriers as they are placed for a reason and any streets without active lights become four way stops.

We were lucky and avoided widespread flooding, now it's a matter of cleanup and getting things back to normal.

Thank you everyone for your patience and be kind to your crews working on your behalf.

PPL has told at least one customer we know of that power could be restored to West Broad Street by 5:30 p.m. One other sign of normalcy: The Easy Weenies hot dog cart on Fourth Street in SouthSide has opened for business. If you'd rather get a slice, we hear Sotto Santi is also open.

PPL customers without power can get free water and ice courtesy of the utility at the Supermercado Mi Tierra at 226 E. Third St. in the SouthSide or Weis Markets at the Westgate Mall, Crawford Drive (off of Route 512) or William Penn Highway. For a complete list of locations where free water and ice are available: https://www.pplelectric.com/my-account/outage-center/~/media/PPLElectric/My%20Account/Docs/Ice-and-Water.pdf

Bethlehem Area Schools will remain closed on Wednesday. Sixteen of 22 school buildings in the district still do not have power.

Bethlehem Area Schools will remain closed on Thursday. 11 of 22 buildings in the district still do not have electricity. PPL now says that everyone in the Lehigh Valley should have power restored by 11 p.m. Sunday.

School Superintendent Joseph Roy says there are no plans to reschedule the annual Liberty v. Freedom football game for 1 p.m. Saturday. Both school bands are planning to practice tomorrow.

Bethlehem police say 45 to 50 traffic lights in the city are still without electricity. Remember to treat these intersections as if they are controlled by a 4-way stop sign. Failure to do so can get you a traffic ticket from BPD. Police say they have handed out "many" tickets today. Even more importantly, it is just dangerous not to make that stop.

An update recently posted on Facebook by the Bethlehem Township Police Department on conditions there:
"at this time some electricity has been restored but there are still pockets of the township without it. Most of the traffic lights and street lights are functioning. The vast majority of our roadways are open, and in good condition. If you havn't yet been on the roadways you should be able to travel with minimal problems at this time within the township. In areas north and west of us many trees are still blocking roadways. We hope everyone has remained safe as we begin to return to normal in the township."

SteelStacks remains without electricity, prompting Habitat for Humanity to postponed its event A Toast to Hope, which was scheduled at the ArtsQuest Center for Sunday afternoon. The new date is February 21.