Hundreds without power following Sunday’s storms in Butler County
Emergency services responded to 28 calls for downed trees and power lines in a 2.5-hour period as severe storms rolled through Butler County on Sunday, June 14, leaving more than 800 residences without power Monday morning.
The majority of outages follow the path of a tornado warning issued at 5:32 p.m. across the northern part of the county, according to a National Weather Service spokesperson in Pittsburgh. He said weather service crews may visit the area Tuesday to look for evidence of a tornado.
First Energy Corporation reported 688 power outages throughout the county Monday morning, and Central Electric Cooperative reported 80 outages in Worth Township and 53 in Brady Township, according to outage maps from the two companies.
The county saw the worst of the storm between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m., the spokesperson said. Wind speeds at the Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport peaked at 43 mph at 6:05 p.m.
Reports of wind damage followed a “pretty solid line as (storms) went through,“ the spokesperson said, from West Liberty to Karns City, but there were no reports of hail in the county.
The majority of First Energy’s outages were reported in the area of Petrolia and Fairview Township with 248 outages.
About 200 outages are reported in the areas of Jefferson, Winfield and Buffalo townships. At least 61 are reported in the area of Cooper’s Lake Campground in Worth Township, at least 34 are reported near Switchback MX in Center Township, 24 outages each are reported in the areas of East Portersville Road between Prospect and Portersville and Butler Township near New Castle Road and Route 422, and another 21 are reported in Penn Township.
Restoration estimates are not available.
The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch beginning at 1:25 p.m., which became a tornado watch then tornado warning around 5:30 p.m. The tornado warning lasted until 6 p.m., and the watch lasted until around 7:15 p.m., the spokesperson said.
Between 0.4 and 0.9 inches of rain fell in the county.
Slippery Rock Volunteer Fire Company began its evening responding to storm damage at 5:45 p.m. and would respond to four calls related to storm damage before the night was over, and another on Monday morning, according to Butler County Emergency Services dispatch records.
West Sunbury Volunteer Fire Department and Unionville Volunteer Fire Company also responded to about five calls, helping each other along the way, according to West Sunbury Chief Curt Mershimer.
Seven calls for downed trees or wires were reported between 5:45 and 6 p.m., 16 were reported between 6 and 7 p.m., and another seven were reported before 12:20 a.m., according to dispatch records.
