Windstorm sweeps through area, causing damage, power outages

By William k. Alcorn

Ohio Edison was concerned about possible 60- to 70-mph winds that could hit the area early today.

YOUNGSTOWN — At one point, some 21,600 Ohio Edison customers in three counties in Northeast Ohio and two counties in northwest Pennsylvania were without electricity because of a windstorm that crashed through the area between 6 and 9 p.m.

Of the five, Mahoning County was the hardest hit, with some 13,600 customers without power for varying periods of time. In Trumbull County, the number in the Warren area was 1,100, and in the Kinsman area, about 300, said Paul Harkey, Ohio Edison spokesman.

In the Salem area, 700 customers lost power, and in the Alliance area, 1,500. In Pennsylvania, 3,200 lost power in Mercer County, and just a handful in Lawrence County, Harkey said.

Most of the outages were caused by downed trees and tree limbs that fell across power lines, said LuAnn Haddad, Edison spokeswoman for the Trumbull County area.

The Columbiana County Sheriff’s Department reported outages caused by downed trees “just like everybody else,” and for a while, much of Campbell was without power. However, Harkey said Struthers had very few problems.

The roof was blown off the abandoned Refuge Apostolic Temple Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ at Shehy and Byron streets, and a large tree was blown down and blocked Oakwood Avenue, both in Youngstown.

But what really had Harkey concerned Wednesday night were reports of possible 60- to 70-mph sustained winds that could hit the area early today.

He said if that happened, particularly with the ground softened by the recent thaw, trees could be more easily uprooted and cause even more serious damage.

Harkey said Ohio Edison had doubled its single-man trouble-shooting crews from 12 to 24 and had 35 line crews ready in anticipation of the storms Wednesday and today.

alcorn@vindy.com