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Another storm causes power outages in Valley
and ROBERT CONNELLY
A strong thunderstorm moved through southern Trumbull County around 5 p.m. Friday, leaving trees and wires down and multiple power outages.
The Trumbull County dispatch center, Girard police, Liberty Fire Department and Eagle Joint Fire Chief Ron Stanish said there were no injuries.
Ohio Edison responded to outages in Niles, Girard, Hubbard and Hubbard Township in Trumbull County and Austintown, Sebring and Berlin Center in Mahoning County. There also were power outages in Farrell, Pa., Campbell, Struthers and part of Youngstown.
Remaining outages late Friday on Ohio Edison’s outage map were in Youngstown near the Oak Street extension and on the North Side at Wirt Street; Boardman near Ridgewood Drive; Poland near Riverside Cemetery and Village Park; in Liberty Township on Colonial Drive and on Churchill Road at Liberty Street; and in Hubbard Township on Pothour-Wheeler Road. Ohio Edison estimates power will be restored by 1 p.m. today. One on U.S. St. Route 224 by the Vickers Nature Preserve will be restored by 2 p.m., Ohio Edison estimates.
In Trumbull County, the dispatch center reported several trees and wires on roads: 5505 Clark Road in Farmington Township; Sodom Hutchings Road between old state Route 82 and Ken Lane in Vienna Township; and in 1139 state Route 7, Brookfield Township, a wire down across the road.
Thursday’s storm lasted just minutes, but the cleanup could take days.
“I’m sure we’ll have a lot of stuff to pick up Monday again, after the weekend,” said Russell Beatty Jr., police chief and streets commissioner for Poland Village.
Poland was in the path of that storm, with reports of downed wires, more than 1,500 power outages, damage to multiple homes, and an incident at Poland Swim Club on Clingan Road in which two large pine trees fell during a 50-person party.
The swim club was cleaned up Friday, and kids were out playing in the pool by mid-afternoon. Some residents, however, still had a lot to do.
Crews from tree-cutting services, insurance agencies and Armstrong Cable were out in one village neighborhood off state Route 616.
Joseph Esposito, a Clyde Street resident, watched as a crew fed a downed tree in his front yard into a wood chipper. In the backyard, the mess caused by four fallen trees remained untouched.
“They were big trees – 75 to 80 feet – and they’re gone,” he said. Despite the damage to his property, he remained calm Friday. “Could be worse,” he said. “At least nobody got hurt.”
The National Weather Service in Cleveland maintains that the storm, which quickly ripped through Poland, Struthers, Boardman, Canfield and other surrounding communities about 5:30 p.m. with rain, wind and hail, was not a tornado. A NWS meteorologist said Friday that the damage was caused by strong “straight-line winds.”
Canfield officials agreed, saying the storm wasn’t as bad as last year’s EF-1 tornado, which damaged a few homes and took down trees in Canfield City, Canfield Township and Ellsworth Township on July 8.
“To my knowledge, no houses were damaged,” said Scott Weamer, Canfield assistant police chief. “We haven’t received any calls [Friday]. I think it was fairly minor compared to last year’s tornado.”
Cardinal Joint Fire District Chief Don Hutchison echoed Weamer and said that the fire department had 11 calls Thursday night for wires and trees across roadways. The most concentrated area was Findlay Avenue, Shields Road and the intersection of state Route 46 and Gibson Road.
“The tree was across Gibson Road and people started using the new Timber Run Drive” road, Hutchison said. “It still had barriers on it, but had the black top on.”
Both Weamer and Hutchison believed it wasn’t a tornado, but both were quick to say they aren’t meteorologists. Canfield fire called in its paid on-call personnel Thursday night, while Canfield police did not call in extra workers.
Poland Township police were out Friday checking for storm-related issues, Sgt. Dan Aracich said. The township got about eight calls Thursday night.
“I would say half of them were trees on power lines, and the other half were trees blocking roadways,” he said. “I did observe large trees on a few houses.”
In Struthers, many of the same issues were reported.
“We didn’t have a whole lot going on today,” said fire department engineer Brian Hallquist. Storm damage was concentrated in the Rocky Ledge and Lake Shore Area, and the area of 616 and 5th Street, he said.
Power was restored to most Ohio Edison customers as of Friday afternoon, according to First Energy’s website.
Contributor: Vindicator staff writer Jeanne Starmack