MORGANTOWN — Storms on Friday dropped more than two inches of rain in the region, causing creeks to rise and power to fail.
While not as severe as the April 18 storm that left much of Monongalia County without power for days, Friday’s downpour knocked out service to thousands of customers in Monongalia, Marion, Preston and Taylor counties. As of 1:30 p.m. Saturday, FirstEnergy reported 1,216 outages in Mon County, 1,823 in Marion, 495 in Taylor and 172 in Preston.
“Severe weather has caused widespread damage to our service area,” reads a statement from FirstEnergy, the parent company of Mon power. “We are aware of thousands of outages currently reported and crews are currently assessing damage and clearing hazards to develop estimated restoration times. We will update our outage maps with these times once they become available. Specific locations will also be updated as crews move from location to location and assess damage. Customers can continue to check our outage map for updates on their reported outage or they can register for text updates by first texting REG to 544487 and then text STAT for updates.”
FirstEnergy’s outage map for north-central West Virginia was peppered with dozens of outage markers in the four-county area, most of them noting 20 or fewer customers affected. Repairs may take more time due to the large number of lines down and crews working to determine how to restore power to as many customers as possible with the initial repairs.
Gov. Patrick noted the severity of the storms Friday night in a social media post on X, formerly Twitter.
“Storms [Friday] have caused power outages mostly concentrated in Barbour and Lewis counties. Approximately 20,000 customers currently remain without power. At my direction, the Division of Emergency Management is working to ensure utilities have what they need to restore service as quickly as possible,” the governor’s statement reads.
Many smaller waterways, including Decker’s and Dunkard creeks, spilled over their banks Friday night, covering roads and filling nearby basements. Between Richard and Dellslow, flooding made driving on W.Va. 7 hazardous.
