High winds cause power outages throughout Stark County

Winds as high as 27 mph from the southwest caused massive power outages throughout Stark County on Saturday.

As of early Sunday afternoon, there were about 13,000 customers still without electricity in Stark County.

"Some of it was associated with a severe thunderstorm," said Mike Griffin, a meteorologist with the Cleveland bureau of the National Weather Service. "Most of it was strong area low pressure. Winds did knock down trees, power lines and power (utility) poles."

The strong winds arrived in the area Saturday afternoon. Nearly 39,000 customers lost electricity in Stark.

As of 2 p.m. Sunday, AEP Ohio reported on its website that more than 10,000 customers, or 10% of all its Stark customers, were still without power.

Ohio Edison, owned by FirstEnergy, reported that more than 6,100 customers in Stark, or about 7.8% of its customers were still without power.

It was unclear how long it would take utility crews to restore power.

Tim Warstler, director of the Stark County Emergency Management Agency, said Saturday that crews were working to restore power. But he expected some might be waiting a day or two to get electricity back with trees and power lines down throughout the county.

"This is definitely one of the bigger storms we've experienced for wind," Warstler said, adding he's heard of reports of shingles coming off of homes, backyard trampolines slamming into houses, trees falling onto homes and buildings and roads blocked due to fallen trees and poles. "There's no specific place I know that was hit harder than another."

More:Hail and winds of up to 40 mph coming to Stark, Summit and Portage counties

Wind damage at Akron-Canton Airport

At Akron-Canton Airport, the strong winds Saturday afternoon blew a roughly 50-foot-long conduit securing LED lights off the roof into the front passenger pickup area, according to Lisa Dalpiaz, vice president of air service and business development.

The conduit made contact with a woman in the pickup area and damaged three cars. Green Fire Department paramedics helped the woman, who did not have to be hospitalized, Dalpiaz said. After the pickup area was closed for a period of time, it and airport operations were running normally as of 6:20 p.m. She said the high winds did not affect any scheduled takeoffs or landings.

The news site 330ToGo posted this picture of the fallen conduit on its Facebook page.

In Tuscarawas Township, the winds caused a row of 10 to 14 utility poles to snap and fall onto a wheat field just north of Wooster Street NW near Alabama Avenue NW around 4 p.m., said township Trustee Blake Brenner, who lives nearby.

"It looks like something just clear cut all the telephone poles up through there," Brenner said, adding that an Ohio Edison lineman had responded to the site Saturday evening.

The trustee said he had not heard of anyone in the township being injured from the effects of the winds.

Brenner said his home lost power for about 90 minutes to two hours when the poles went down. He said a big gust of wind was "shaking everything for a good three to four minutes. It was pretty intense." Then Ohio Edison apparently rerouted the electricity. Trees all over the township have been snapped and are lying on the ground with their roots exposed.

Brenner said that North Lawrence Fire Department had closed part of Orrville Street NW, but the reason wasn't clear.

In adjoining Lawrence Township, Trustee Sean Roseman said he had not heard of any reports of injuries, but many trees and power lines were down throughout the township. The township's three road employees, assisted by the North Lawrence and Lawrence Township fire departments, were cutting fallen trees to clear roads.

The National Weather Service on Saturday issued a wind advisory until midnight. It warned the public that much of Northeast Ohio including Stark County would have winds from the southwest of 20 to 35 mph with gusts of up to 60 miles per hour. Meteorologists expected power outages, downed power lines and downed trees and difficult travel conditions, especially for motorists driving high-profile vehicles.

The advisory warned residents to stay away from outdoor forested areas near trees and branches. It advised people to stay in the lower levels of their home and stay away from windows. And it said people who must travel should exercise caution.

Reach Robert at robert.wang@cantonrep.com. Twitter: @rwangREP.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: High winds bring down trees and utility poles throughout Stark area