With winds clocked at 53 mph at the Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport in Penn Township and gales ripping through every municipality in the county, the onslaught of 911 dispatches began just before 11 a.m. Sunday.

Police and fire crews were dispatched about every one to three minutes for reports of trees on wires, trees blocking roads, sheered utility poles, traffic signals not functioning, transformers exploding and even an individual stuck in an elevator in Saxonburg due to a power outage.

The First Energy website reported more than 7,000 West Penn Power outages in the county as of 10:30 p.m. Sunday, and spokesman Todd Meyers said line crews could not use their bucket trucks for repairs until the winds dip below 40 mph.

The highest number of outages was in Prospect where 562 customers out of 582 were without power, according to the First Energy website.

Mike Kennedy at the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh said the high winds and damaging gusts were not expected to die down until around dawn Monday, so those without power might be waiting a while to have service restored.

“We're out there working,” Meyers said. “People need to be patient.”

He explained that crews' first priority are the lines that provide service to the highest number of customers, so rural customers would likely be cooling their heels until crews can get to the downed lines that caused their outages.

Meyers could not estimate when power would be restored.

“We have restored some customers, but there are many more outages that are coming faster than we can get the power back on,” Meyers said. “This is a very large (storm) system.”

Kennedy said the system is the same one that provided measurable snow a few days ago in Las Vegas.

He said winds in an F-0 tornado are 65 to 85 mph and winds of 58 mph are required to issue a severe thunderstorm warning.

“So we're getting close to severe thunderstorm winds,” Kennedy said, “and instead of a five- or 10-minute shot of it, we're getting 12 to 18 hours.”

Kennedy predicted widespread power outages, roof damage and siding damage in such a lengthy windstorm.

“We've had above-average precipitation so far this year, so the ground is very moist,” he said. “With the strong winds, even without leaves, trees are more susceptible to getting taken out.”

While the 911 center dispatchers were too busy to talk to Butler Eagle reporters Sunday, hundreds of calls were reported from 11 a.m. until press time.

One report of part of a roof on a building on West Cunningham Street blowing off and striking a car came in around 2 p.m., and an individual was stuck in an elevator at Saxony Health Center in Saxonburg when the power suddenly went out.

Transformer explosions were reported on Pittsburgh Pike in Butler and at 1352 Pittsburgh Road farther to the south.

A transformer swinging in the wind from power lines closed Dinnerbell Road in Penn Township between Anderson Road and Route 8. Downed lines closed numerous roads. Much of the early damage cited was in Middlesex Township.

At one point, harried dispatchers at the 911 center sent Penn Township police and fire crews to three different reports of trees down in one dispatch. Those calls were on Route 8, Dutchtown Road and Old Plank Road.

Dispatchers at several points chastised crews for using the emergency radio system unnecessarily, stating that only emergency traffic was permitted on the county system due to the rapid-fire pace of calls.

George Bilowick of Larchwood Drive in Penn Township said his neighbors came knocking on his door at around 4 p.m. to tell him the power lines along the road had set fire to the trees in his front yard after a large pine tree toppled over onto the lines.

“If anybody wants some wood, I'll have it for them,” Bilowick said.

Meyer said when multiple power lines are down, West Penn dispatches an employee to keep the public away from them.

If crews arriving on the scene determine that the line is still live, they will cut the power and move on to the next set of down lines. Repair crews are then dispatched when available.

Adam William, owner of Northern Arborist in Butler, explained how unusually high moisture in recent months caused many trees to uproot.

“We have so many old, mature oaks, they are just not able to handle (high winds),” William said.

He said damage from the recent ice storm may have caused large limbs to break off, which further weakens the tree.

“They can't take big wounds like that,” William said.

He said pines and red oaks have fairly shallow root systems and are more likely to uproot in wet soil during high winds.

Other trees, like pin oaks, have a deep tap root and are less likely to be knocked over.

Kennedy said unlike the recent ice storm concentrated in Western Pennsylvania, Sunday's system stretched east to Iowa and south to Missouri.

He said the high winds were on their way to eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey after vacating the region Monday morning.

“It's a big area that's windy right now,” Kennedy said.