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Strong Storms Soak the Ohio Valley

WHEELING -- The dark storm clouds that rolled through the Ohio Valley on Monday afternoon left a strong mark on the area -- in the form of downed tree limbs, standing water and power outages up and down the Northern Panhandle.

Weather services had forecast strong storms to barrel through the area, and those predictions came true Monday afternoon. High wind gusts and heavy rains smacked the region. In the Elm Grove neighborhood of Wheeling, the storms sent a large tree limb crashing onto Kruger Street.

Throughout Ohio and Marshall counties, drivers splashed through water that had pooled on the roads. Drains and culverts overflowed as rapid rains overloaded them. Several pockets of the Northern Panhandle dealt with a lack of power.

According to Appalachian Power's online outage map, the largest outage area was along U.S. 250 near Grand Vue Park in Moundsville. There, 443 customers were without power as of 8 p.m. Monday. Near Dallas, 113 more customers were in the dark. Ohio County was mostly spared, with small sections of a dozen customers or fewer without electricity.

Further north, First Energy said approximately 171 customers in Chester were said to be without power, with a handful in New Cumberland. Close to 1,800 customers lost power in the Wellsburg area, with 81 customers in Colliers, 443 in Bethany, 63 in Follansbee and seven in Beech Bottom.

Around 130 customers were affected by outages in the city of Weirton.

First Energy officials estimated power would be restored around 6:30 p.m. Monday.

In Jefferson County, the county 911 center reported trees and power lines down across various parts of the county.

The Steubenville Police Department also reported trees down around the city.

According to American Electric Power, as of 5:30 p.m. Monday, 1,771 customers were without power in Jefferson County, with 35 outage cases reported. Some 955 of those customers without power were in the Steubenville area, accounting for 12 of the outage cases.

The Herald-Star in Steubenville contributed to this report.