Emergency crews directed traffic Sunday afternoon around downed lines on Whitestown Road near the intersection of Fairground Hill Road and Pierce Avenue. Butler County experienced damaging winds throughout Sunday and into Monday morning.

The huge storm that blanketed the Nevada desert with snow, caused flooding down South, and damaged dozens of homes, utility lines and trees in Butler County continues to be an aggravation for local West Penn Power customers whose service failed during the high winds the storm brought to the area Sunday.

Todd Meyers, West Penn Power spokesman, explained that because the storm was so widespread, crews normally coming from Ohio, New Jersey and West Virginia to help restore power in Western Pennsylvania are unavailable because their own areas saw heavy storm damage.

According to Meyers, West Penn Power crews and the regular contractors they work with will largely be on their own in restoring power in Butler and surrounding counties.

“There are going to be customers out for some time,” Meyers said Monday. “I don't want customers to think they're going to have their service restored in the next hour or two.”

Meyers pointed out that 65 percent of West Penn Power's substations and 65 percent of their lines were impacted by the wind, which began late Sunday morning and continued until Monday morning.

Meyers said although much of Monday was spent assessing the damage, headway was made in restoring customers' power. He said the number of outages was almost 5,000 early Monday morning, but that number fell to 3,092 by 9:30 p.m.

“It's been an around-the-clock effort for a couple days, for sure. They are making progress,” Meyers said, adding that elderly customers or those with an illness may want to seek temporary accommodations.

“But for most of us, we can just stay in the center rooms of our homes, using blankets and sleeping bags,” Meyers said.

He assured the public that everything possible is being done to restore power to those affected by the whipping winds. He asked that customers be patient as the company works to restore power.

Rob McLafferty, the 911 coordinator at the county emergency services department, said Monday that six dispatchers sent firefighters to 148 calls for trees and wires down between 3 a.m. Sunday and 3 a.m. Monday. That number is in addition to blown transformers, snapped utility poles, fire alarms tripped by the winds and other calls. On Sunday afternoon, dispatchers whose shifts ended at 2 p.m. stayed to help with the flood of calls.

“All of our staff have a public safety background before coming to the 911 center,” McLafferty said. “They are an extremely professional team of 911 dispatchers. They're amazing.”

He said one area fire chief took the time to contact him during the storm to compliment the efficiency of the dispatchers, who during the peak of the storm sent police and firefighters to a call every minute.

“The staff is dedicated to our first responders in the community, so that feedback means a lot,” McLafferty said.