Trees were falling like tenpins, or so it seemed, when severe thunderstorms passed through Butler County on Wednesday evening and continued late into the night.

“We must have had eight or nine calls for downed trees and wires,” said Reid Campbell, assistant chief for the West Sunbury Volunteer Fire Department. “They were falling everywhere.”

Downed trees and power lines led fire crews to close a portion of Route 8 between Sunset Drive in Center Township and Route 138 in Clay Township for several hours.

That call came in about 10:30 p.m. The road still was shut down after 6 a.m. Thursday and reopened an hour later, authorities said,

But the state Department of Transportation apparently was not notified of the closure, said Bruce Hartman, PennDOT's assistant highway maintenance manager for Butler County.

PennDOT crews temporarily closed Seven Hills Road in Oakland Township after a tree or trees fell onto power lines a little after 10 p.m., Hartman said.

A portion of East Portersville Road in Muddy Creek Township was also closed for a while after a tree toppled onto the road about 10 p.m., putting a scare into a woman who happened to be driving by at the same time.

She was not injured, said Tim Saunders, chief of the Portersville Volunteer Fire Department.

Between 6 p.m. Wednesday and 12:25 a.m. Thursday, the Butler County Communications Center handled at least 30 calls for fallen trees or wires.

The downed wires also meant power outages. Hundreds of customers in Butler County lost service during the night. At 1:30 p.m., Thursday, there were 577 West Penn Power customers still without electricity, according to the company's website.

At that same time, only seven Central Electric Cooperative members remained without service.

The National Weather Service in Pittsburgh during the evening Wednesday issued a severe thunderstorm watch for 15 counties including Butler. The advisory remained in effect until 1 a.m. Thursday.