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The hardest hit was Mahoning County with more than 14,000 without electricity
YOUNGSTOWN
There were tornado warnings and tornado watches aplenty Sunday afternoon and evening but no reported tornado touchdowns associated with the dangerous spring storms that rolled through the Mahoning Valley.
However, high winds blew down trees and tree branches that in turn knocked down power lines that left 20,000 FirstEnergy customers in Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties and Alliance in Stark County without power, all weather-related, according to a FirstEnergy spokeswoman.
Most police departments in Mahoning County were so busy handling weather-related problems that they didn’t have the time to take any non-emergency calls.
“Trees and power lines are down all over Beaver Township,” said a police spokes- woman.
Struthers police reported power outages scattered all over the city.
A spokesman for the Youngstown Police Department said there are “a bunch of wires down on the South Side.”
According to First Energy’s outages map at 8:15 p.m., Mahoning County was the hardest hit with 14,409 customers without power. There were 3,439 outages in Columbiana County; 1,496 outages in Trumbull County; and 2,165 outages in Stark County, in which Alliance is located.
FirstEnergy crews began assessing the damage in all the communities affected by the string of storms in the late afternoon Sunday.
“We hope to have power restored Monday. All hands are on deck,” said the First Energy spokeswoman.
The National Weather Service in Cleveland predicted showers between 9 p.m. Sunday and 3 a.m. today. Some storms could have been severe with damaging winds and significant precipitation.
Scattered showers are expected throughout the week with temperatures gradually rising into the low- to mid-70s by the end of the week.