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

The high winds, which the National Weather Service said hit a high of 45 mph in Butler County, took out power for about 10,000 customers of West Penn Power said company spokesman Todd Meyers. But the outages weren’t concentrated in Butler County, where as of this morning the company was reporting 623 households without power. According to the company, the outages were spread around 27 municipalities in 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.

The storm also knocked out power to hundreds of Central Electric Cooperative customers, according to the company’s website. The hardest-hit municipality appeared to be Summit Township, where the company was reporting 155 households were without power as of this morning.

Butler County Emergency Services Director Steve Bicehouse said 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 on downed trees and 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.”