Damage from high winds caused some school closures in Butler County as repairs continue

MIDDLESEX TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Damage from Friday’s high winds is still visible in different parts of Butler County.

Click here to see the latest number of power outages in the area.

FirstEnergy said as of 1 p.m. Monday, there were still nearly 1,300 people without power in the county. One example of why so many people are without power can be found on State Road in Middlesex Township.

The winds on Friday caused a tree to uproot and fall on power lines, which caused a power pole to lean. Those wires are now hanging low across the road. That part of the road is closed.

These road closures may seem minor, but there were so many partial closures across the area in Middlesex and Adams Townships, Mars Area School District had its students learning from home on Monday.

In a statement, FirstEnergy tells Channel 11, “At the height of the windstorm, nearly 175,000 West Penn Power and Penn Power customers were without power in western Pennsylvania. With the help from more than 800 additional line workers and support personnel, our crews continue working around the clock to restore service to about 5,000 customers who remain without power. Currently, about 1,280 customers remain without power in Butler County and 350 customers remain out in Beaver County. We expect to have most customers back up and running today, and some customer outages could spill over to tomorrow.

Seneca Valley and Mars schools have power. I believe their schools were remote today due to road closures in the area, NOT power issues. Please confirm this with them.

As we work through this stage of power restoration, there are hundreds of isolated issues affecting individual or small numbers of customers. These are the most time-consuming repairs because they require our crews to go to each individual location to make the repairs. Many of the isolated issues include repairs to “service drops,” which are wires attached to each home to deliver electricity from the neighborhood power line. These wires are often damaged by fallen trees and large branches.

Safety is our TOP PRIORITY. Please use caution if you must go outdoors. Stay far away from downed- or low-hanging power lines that could be hidden in storm debris or downed trees. If you see any downed- or low-hanging wire, assume it is energized and dangerous; stay far away and report it immediately to 911."

Channel 11’s Andrew Havranek called and left a message for Middlesex Township, but his call has not been returned.

The Adams Township Manager said late Monday afternoon crews were reopening the last road closure that was impacting residents there.

FirstEnergy is urging anyone who is in the dark to report their outage by going online, calling 1-888-LIGHTSS (1-888-544-487)7, or texting the word “OUT” to 544487.

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