Thousands Remained Without Power Wednesday After Strong Storms
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Thousands of residents of the Upper Ohio Valley were still without power Wednesday evening after high winds and heavy thunderstorms swept across the region Tuesday night.
Most of the residents in the Northern Panhandle still affected by power outages Wednesday were in Brooke County, where according to the website PowerOutage.us, 7,236 customers were still down. Most residents in Marshall and Ohio counties were back online by Wednesday evening, with just 830 customers still out.
Across the river in Ohio, Jefferson County had nearly a third of its customers still out, with 10,235 still affected. There were 4,331 homes in Harrison County still out and just 472 out in Belmont County.
The storms also took down a number of large trees, some blocking roads Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. Crews could be seen clearing roads and removing trees throughout the day on Wednesday and the sound of chainsaws and other tools sounded across the valley.
West Liberty appeared to have been hit hard by the storm, and West Liberty Elementary School announced that they were closed Wednesday due to a power outage.
Albert's Tree Service was one of the companies clearing fallen trees from residential properties on Wednesday. According to workers, there were a number of trees that were blocking roads around the Wheeling area as a result of the storms.
Ohio County Emergency Management Director Lou Vargo said the storms downed trees "all over" Ohio County," and Marshall County EMA Tom Hart echoed that sentiment.
Vargo said on Wednesday, AEP had additional crews out restoring power across the area.