11,600 in county lose power in storm
More than 11,600 West Penn Power customers in Butler County were left without power Thursday evening during the first big winter storm of the season.
Some of those customers are likely to remain in the dark until Friday afternoon, according to the company.
Those 11,654 customers represent just over 13 percent of West Penn's customers in Butler County.
Trees on power lines, lines down on cars and roads — blocking snow plows in some places — and transformers on fire marked the county's first big winter storm of the season.
Butler County 9-1-1 Emergency Services began receiving reports of fallen lines and trees and vehicle accidents early in the day and calls continued pouring in as snow fell into the night.
More than 100 calls came in between 6 p.m. and midnight Thursday. Emergency responders were scrambling to keep up with the flurry of incidents.
“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 outage reports were expected to continue overnight.
“There is enough trouble that it will probably be tomorrow afternoon before everyone's power is back on. Not everyone will be out that long, but with the number of outages and new ones it will take time. There's new outages as we speak,” Meyers said. “It's all weather related.”
“The guys will be working 24-7 until everyone is back on. We're definitely in storm mode right now,” Meyers said. “We have hundreds of linemen working throughout the region,” he added.
He said most of the outages were a result of ice on trees that caused limbs to break and take out the power lines below.Meyers said customers who lose power or see a line down should call 1-888-LIGHTSS (544-4877).“Chances are we know about the outage but that helps narrow down where it is,” Meyers said.Residents should also take precautions during the storm, he added.“In this weather, make sure you keep yourself out of harm's way by watching for any downed wires,” Meyers said. “You've got to assume they're live.”Relief should come Friday as the snowfall gradually ends.“The snow should continue through the night before it tapers off (Friday) morning. Butler County is looking at between 2 and 3 inches overnight in addition to what's fallen,” said Bill Modzelewski, a metrologist with the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh.He said about an inch of snow fell before 9 p.m. Thursday.The temperature Thursday night was 32 and was expected to drop into the 20s before morning. Friday's high is expected to reach the mid-30s, he said.
