Winds of 50 mph or higher Wednesday night knocked out power to hundreds of Butler County residents and thousands of people across the region, and left power companies working through the night to restore people's service.

The winds knocked down a tree onto the roof of a mobile home in Cherry Township and toppled a chimney at a house in Butler.

The high winds took out power for about 10,000 customers across the service area of West Penn Power, said company spokesman Todd Meyers. But the outages weren't concentrated in Butler County, where as of Thursday morning the company was reporting 623 households without power.

According to the company, the outages were spread to 27 municipalities around the county. The two hardest-hit appeared to be Winfield Township, where 282 households were without power as of 8 a.m. today, and Bruin, where 105 households were without power.

Meyers said the high winds were part of a storm system that ripped through the Midwest earlier this week, creating several tornadoes that killed at least three people and damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes.

Butler County Emergency Services Director Steve Bicehouse said that the county's 911 Center had fielded 30 weather-related calls since midnight. The calls, which Bicehouse said were spread around the county, were a mix of reports of downed trees, downed wires and trees leaning on wires.

The county also responded to one utility pole fire, Bicehouse said, adding that the weather made for a treacherous night.

“It was busy for a midnight shift,” he said. “The wind was really bad for all of us.”