High winds bring down trees, power lines

Jan. 10—High winds pounded Ashtabula County on Tuesday, causing mostly minor damage but keeping utility crews busy.

"I think all of what we had is wires down and putting in tickets for CEI to deal with (the power disruption]," said Geneva Firefighter Matt Parks.

He said there were a lot of trees and wires down in the area.

Similar reports were made throughout the county.

"The wind is the biggest thing, we are thankful it isn't freezing yet," said Ashtabula City Manager Jim Timonere.

He said the first calls of wind damage came in around 8:30 a.m. on Thursday and crews were busy throughout the day.

He said the city called a four-hour extension for workers to continue cleanup on Tuesday afternoon. Timonere indicated there wasn't a lot of severe damage reported.

Tree branches were visible on area roads throughout the county. Motorists carefully made their way through areas where trees were down, but most weren't closed.

Main Street in Conneaut was blocked for a while so crews could repair power lines several blocks west of city hall.

Conneaut Fire Chief Steve Lee said wind damage, with wires down, were the main calls firefighters dealt with. He said a house on Dorman Road was damaged when a tree crashed into it.

The rubber roofing on the former J.C. Penney store on Main Street could be seen blowing on Tuesday afternoon. The building was most recently used as a thrift shop.