Strong winds Friday morning have caused power outages throughout Butler County. Pictured is a damaged power line on Pearl Avenue in Mars.

With wind gusts in the region reaching as high as 54 mph Friday, thousands of Butler County residents have lost power because of downed power lines. The number of people affected is expected to continue to climb throughout the day.

Butler County and the region are under a weather advisory for Friday with sustained winds predicted to reach between 30 to 39 mph and gusts ranging between 46 to 57 mph, according to Myranda Fullerton, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

West Penn Power and Central Electric Cooperative have reported more than a thousand customers without power in the area.

Todd Meyers, a spokesman for West Penn Power, said that figure is likely to go up as the weather advisory ran through Friday afternoon.

“It’s a challenging storm because it’s so large, geographically. and we need to handle it with our own crews, there’s no outside help available,” Meyers said, explaining work crews in other parts of the region are busy with their own outages from the winds.

Meyers cautioned people to avoid downed power lines, advising that it is best to assume that electricity is still running through the wires.

According to West Penn Power’s outage information, the utility is expecting power to be restored around noon and early afternoon but depending on how the storm progresses, those estimated times could be pushed back. In places such as Center Township, where there are around 327 customers without power, West Penn Power estimates their power will be back by 1:30 p.m.

This is a breaking news report.