Storm-related power outages extend into Monday in Butler County
Electric companies expected power to be restored Monday, March 16, to most customers who lost service during a weekend windstorm in which gusts exceeded 60 mph.
At the height of the storm Friday evening, nearly 175,000 West Penn Power and Penn Power customers were without power in Western Pennsylvania. With help from more than 800 additional line workers and support personnel, crews continued working on Monday to restore service to about 4,200 customers who remained without power, according to parent company FirstEnergy.
As of Monday afternoon, about 915 customers remained without power in Butler County. Most were expected to have their service restored by the end of the day, but some might not have power until Tuesday, FirstEnergy said.
FirstEnergy said its crews are repairing hundreds of isolated issues, including service drops in which wires attached to individual homes were damaged by fallen trees and large branches.
About 13,000 Central Electric Cooperative customers lost power Friday and an additional 3,300 outages took place Sunday during a second windstorm.
At the peak of Friday’s storm, about 5,700 Central Electric customers in Butler County had no power, said Nikki Staley, communication supervisor for Central Electric. A crew was restoring service Monday to the last home in the county with no power, she said.
Central Electric’s entire workforce and five to seven crews from other electric cooperatives were making the repairs.
“We did have power supply issues to some of our substations, but we had a lot of fallen trees and broken poles,” Staley said.
Both utilities said crews had been working around the clock to restore service.
Damage from the storm prompted both the Mars Area and Seneca Valley school districts to operate on remote learning schedules Monday.
The strongest wind gusts in the county occurred between 5 and 8 p.m. Friday, with wind speeds ranging from 45 to 65 mph, said Chris Leonardi, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh.
“The highest gust we saw reported was 68 from a home weather station at 5:56 p.m.,” Leonardi said.
At the Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport, the strongest gust recorded reached 61 mph, he said.
In the region, 66 mph gusts were recorded Friday at 7:03 p.m. at Pittsburgh International Airport, a 70 mph gust was recorded in Zanesville, Ohio, and a 75 mph reading came from the DuBois Regional Airport in Jefferson County, he said.
Sunday night also was gusty, with winds reaching 35 to 45 mph in Butler County, Leonardi said.
Joe Hartnett, of Butler, recorded a video, which he said went viral on TikTok, of a large pine tree falling from a neighbor’s yard just before 6 p.m. Friday.
“I was making dinner and looked out the back door and saw the ground around the tree moving,” Hartnett said.
He said he called a neighbor and suggested he move his truck as it was parked near the tree.
“Then the tree uprooted no more than 30 seconds before he got his truck out of the way. It just missed a house on Freemont Avenue,” Hartnett said.
He said it looked like the tree was going to hit the house, but a gust of wind intervened.
“Mother Nature decided to lay her down gently in my neighbor’s yard. We’re very thankful,” Hartnett said.
The tree has been removed, he added.
He said his video was viewed over 1 million times on TikTok.
“Its gone viral on TikTok. My phone hasn’t stopped ringing the last two days,” he said.
Phones at the Butler County 911 center rang at a frantic pace Friday night. At one point, the center was receiving 184 emergency calls per hour.
The storm was felt in all parts of the county.
“It was pretty much a countywide event,” said Steve Bicehouse, emergency services director. “Anytime you get a storm like this you’re going to have damage.”
The only reported storm related injury was an Oneida Valley Volunteer Fire Department firefighter, Bicehouse said.
Firefighter Mike King was severely injured Friday around 5:30 p.m. when he was struck by a vehicle on Route 38 in Oakland Township while he was responding to wind damages. A GoFundMe account has been created to assist with his medical costs and other expenses.
