Storm knocks out power to some county residents
While it's not consolation for those who weathered a power outage resulting from the snow and ice that fell relentlessly on Thursday night and Friday morning, no large-scale power outages were seen in the First Energy territory in the county.
Maps showed 469 West Penn Power customers without electricity on Friday morning, which represents 1% of First Energy customers in the county.
The biggest outage was on Branchton Road between Hilliards and Eau Claire, but First Energy Crews were on-scene at 8:30 a.m. investigating the issue.
Smaller outages of one to 20 customers dotted the county, including neighborhoods near Bruin, two near Moraine State Park and one on Evans City Road near Connoquenessing.
Most outages were due to tree damage or were under investigation by First Energy crews.
The Central Electric Cooperative outage map showed 62 customers without power in Franklin Township and just five outages total in other townships in the county.
Todd Meyers, First Energy spokesman, said Washington County was the hardest hit in the area, with thousands of customers left in the dark.
“It looks like this time, Butler County was largely spared, for once,” Meyers said.
He cautioned that temperatures are not expected to rise at least through Tuesday, so the snow and ice will continue to cling to trees and wires.
That means any additional precipitation could bring branches down on wires in the days to come.
“Sometimes the tree may weather a day or two of having all that weight on it, but as time goes on, it can reach that point of failure,” Meyers said.
He did not expect any of the outages in Butler County to be prolonged.
Rob McClafferty, 911 coordinator at the county emergency services department, said fire and rescue crews responded to three crashes overnight, but none were of a serious nature.
“People avoided unnecessary travel and followed the warnings that were issued,” McClafferty said.
He said fire crews responded to six sets of wires down throughout the county, including in the West Sunbury area, where crews remained on the scene for seven hours overnight.
He said the 911 center received no reports of flooding along the Connoquenessing Creek.
A woman who answered the phone at the Butler Transit Authority said all buses, both local and commuter service to Pittsburgh, were running on time on Friday morning.
School districts in Butler County, the Butler County Area Vocational-Technical School, Butler County Community College and Slippery Rock University were closed today. All offered remote instruction except for Butler Area and Slippery Rock Area.
