Severe weather causes power outages in area

From staff reports

Power lines and trees came down as strong winds that were accompanied by heavy rain, thunder, lightning and hail tore through the area on Sunday evening, knocking out electrical service to many in the region and surrounding area.

At approximately 7:30 p.m., the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for Venango County until 8 p.m. It was at that time when severe weather began to unleash its force on the area.

Correspondence heard on a police scanner reported a funnel cloud in the area of Sugarcreek Borough at about the same time, but the weather service could not confirm the sighting.

“We haven’t gotten any confirmations of any (tornado) touchdowns yet,” a weather service representative said Sunday night.

Both Venango County and Clarion County 911 dispatch centers reported the majority of calls after the storm were for downed trees and power lines. Both centers reported that the incidents were “sporadic” and spanned throughout the counties.

As of 9:30 p.m. Sunday, FirstEnergy, the parent company of Penelec, reported 330 outages in Venango County, 3,433 in Crawford County and 2,779 in Mercer County. There were fewer than five power outages in Clarion and Forest counties.

Around the same time, Central Electric Cooperative reported 99 outages in Clarion County and 77 in Venango County.