Storm cuts power to 10,000 Butler County customers
More than 10,000 West Penn Power customers in Butler County were left without power Thursday evening during the first big snowstorm of the season.
Some of those customers are likely to remain in the dark until Friday afternoon, according to the company.
Those 10,456 customers represent just over 12 percent of West Penn's customers in Butler County.
Trees down over power lines, power lines down on cars and roads — blocking snow plows in some places — transformers on fire and widespread power outages marked Butler County's first big winter storm of the season.
Butler County emergency dispatch began receiving reports fallen lines and trees and vehicle accidents from every corner of the county early in the day and calls continued pouring in to the dispatch center through the night as snow continued falling. Emergency responders were scrambling to keep up with the flurry of incidents caused by the storm.
“It's been accelerating this evening. It looks like Butler County is getting the worst of the wintry mix right now,” said West Penn spokesman Todd Meyers.
He said power outage reports were expected to continue overnight.
Read more about the power outages in Friday's Butler Eagle.
