Thousands in Mahoning Valley area without power

windstorm damage

Gallery

Wind gusts that reached 60 mph around 3 a.m. today caused widespread power outages, with 20,000 customers losing electric service in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties in Ohio and Mercer and Lawrence counties in Pennsylvania, said spokesman Paul Harkey.

At the height of wind storm, 32,000 lost power, with the hardest hit in the Youngstown-Mahoning County area. He said a 69,000 volt transmission line between Boardman and Lowellville tripped from the wind and caused an outage for 10,500 customers in Youngstown, Boardman, Lowellville, Struthers and Poland. At 8:26 a.m., the line was re-energized and power restored to those areas.

He said about 600 customers in Youngstown and 500 in Salem were still without power this morning and service should be restored by noon. Crews were then to be diverted to Trumbull County where about 2,500 customers were without power, mostly in the Warren-Howland and Kinsman areas, Harkey said.