Heavy winds cause widespread power outages
High winds downed power lines, causing more outages in the county, as fast as crews could fix them, according to Ken Maleski of Central Electric Cooperative.
Within one five-minute period, 50 homes reported outages, said Maleski, Central Electric's manager of communications and public relations.
“We had it down to 700, and within the last hour 155 more went out,” he said Wednesday afternoon, adding 23 linemen were responding to calls during the wind storm.
The National Weather Service in Pittsburgh issued a wind advisory Tuesday night warning of winds ranging from 15 to 30 mph and gusts up to 50 mph.
“Winds this strong can make driving difficult, especially for high profile vehicles,” the advisory said.
By early Wednesday morning the windy conditions had already taken a toll, with trees and power lines reported down between 6:25 and 6:30 a.m. on North Road in Franklin Township and on Golden City Road in Jefferson Township.
Just after 6:30 a.m. in Adams Township, a blown fuse on a transformer was reported on Seventh Avenue near the A.J. Myers Bus Co. terminal. The power company was notified, authorities said.
Maleski cited a week's worth of weather — rather than solely Wednesday's — as the reason the wind damage was so widespread.
“The amount of rain that we have had and the wet ground and ash trees, they're all the culprits,” he said.
The blustery conditions impacted more than just the morning commute Wednesday.
Around 11:30 a.m. wind brought down a power line on Route 422 in Summit Township, between the Mitchell Hill Exit and Bonniebrook Road. That brought traffic to a standstill for more than an hour, as crews worked to remove the line. Traffic was eventually diverted around the stoppage by Lick Hill fire crews.
Wind brought wires down across Glade Mill Road near the intersection with Rolling Mills Drive in Middlesex Township shortly after 2 p.m. Wednesday, resulting in a road closure that lasted until about 6 p.m., according to emergency responders.
The windy conditions also touched off widespread power outages with West Penn Power and Central Electric Cooperative reporting that nearly 2,000 customers in Butler County were without power as of late Wednesday morning.
Those outages were spread across nearly every municipality in Butler County, but hit households in Jefferson, Middlesex, Oakland and Penn townships the hardest.
The blustery conditions ripped up trees and downed wires in the southwest portion of the county, but did not appear to have seriously impacted the afternoon commute.A tree fell and ripped down power lines shortly after 1:30 p.m. on Three Degree Road in Adams Township. That portion of the road near Glade Run Road was closed for several hours as crews worked to remove the tree and replace the line.Elsewhere, at about 3:30 p.m. wind ripped wires from a traffic signal at the intersection of Route 228 and Heritage Creek Drive, Adams Township. Crews worked to repair the damage and police directed traffic, which was slowed but not stopped.The widespread wind damage prompted one school system in the county — Butler School District — to issue an alert to parents Wednesday afternoon, warning that downed trees and power lines could mean delayed drop-off times for students returning home from school.Superintendent Brian White said Wednesday night that he had not been notified of any issues with the buses taking students home.While South Butler School District did not modify its afternoon bus schedule because of the weather, it did lose power to part of the Jefferson Township campus Wednesday morning.Superintendent David Foley said the district's primary center and central office were without electricity for a short time. The outage did not cause any disruption in class, Foley said.Conditions were expected to improve Thursday with partly sunny skies, a high near 41 and winds from the west of 9 to 11 mph, and gusts as high as 23 mph, according to the National Weather Service.Eagle staff writers Paula Grubbs, J.W. Johnson Jr., Joe Genco and Jim Smith contributed to this report.
