Pictured above, this weekend’s sustained high winds snapped off a tree on Elwood Avenue. The tree narrowly missed the home on the property.
(Photo submitted)
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This weekend’s windy weather tore power lines from the sky and knocked trees onto roads.
Sunday’s high winds impacted thousands of Dayton Power and Light (DP&L) customers.
According to DP&L spokesperson Mary Ann Kabel, as many as 4,600 Union County customers were without power at the outage’s peak Sunday. Kabel said as of this morning, all local customers had their services restored.
Kabel said the main problem stemmed from high winds undoing repairs. She said Sunday saw wind repeatedly knocking out power after it had already been restored.
“It was up and down,” she said.
Those problems resulted from a combination of factors, including trees falling onto power lines. She said last week’s rain didn’t help, since it saturated the ground and made it easier for the wind to take down trees.
Overall, Kabel said DP&L dealt with 47,000 customers throughout its service area who had their power knocked out. As of today at 9:15 a.m., 2,500 customers region-wide were still without power.
As for the local roadways, it looks like Union County got off easy during this weekend’s high winds.
In an email from Union County Emergency Management Agency Director Brad Gilbert, he said officials received reports of wind gusts up to 55 miles per hour.
Other than seeing a barn with its roof partially torn off, “I did not receive any calls about damage.”
“Just lots of dead tree branches down,” Gilbert wrote.
Union County Engineer Jeff Stauch said his office handled four trees around the county that fell and blocked roads.
He said two were on Bates Road, one was on Lafayette-Plain City Road and one was on Delaware County Line Road.
According to Stauch, officials were lucky since all of the trees were knocked down during daytime hours, allowing crews to handle the trees before nightfall when they might be more dangerous.
“We took care of them as soon as we were aware,” Stauch said.
Other than that, the engineer’s office didn’t receive any calls about wind damage.
He said today, crews might have to realign road signs that have been knocked over.
As for what residents can do to protect themselves against wind, Stauch said it’s tough.
“Honestly, there’s not a lot folks can do,” Stauch said.
Stauch said one thing residents can do is remove dead trees that are easily knocked over from their properties. He said it might be expensive, but could be worth it in the long run.
Other than that, he said high winds are a “tough animal.”