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High winds lead to damage, outages across Mid-Ohio Valley

Photo by Jess Mancini Bob Enoch, president of the Wood County Historic and Preservation Society, stands by the toppled bowl of the Jackson Memorial Fountain at City Park. On Saturday night high winds toppled the fountain and an oak tree at the park. Pieces of the Lady of the Lake, a statue on the top bowl of the fountain, is in pieces in and around the bottom bowl of the fountain.

PARKERSBURG — Winds that blew through the area Saturday night caused damage at City Park in Parkersburg and knocked out power in Belpre.

A wind advisory issued for the area around 10 p.m. Saturday said Calhoun, Doddridge, Gilmer, Jackson, Mason, Pleasants, Ritchie, Roane, Tyler, Wirt and Wood counties in West Virginia and a number of counties in Ohio could be impacted.

Winds were reported at 15-20 mph with gusts up to 50 mph, the advisory said. The wind advisory was in effect until 2 a.m. Sunday.

The wind caused part of the Jackson Memorial Fountain at City Park to be blown over and damaged. The Lady of the Lake, a cast-iron statue in the top bowl of the fountain near the park’s main entrance, fell into the large bottom bowl and shattered into many pieces.

“It’s a tragedy,” said Bob Enoch, president of the Wood County Historical and Preservation Commission, as he looked upon the rubble. “It is something that has been a big part of Parkersburg history.”

Photo by Jess Mancini The head of the Lady of the Lake statue sits in the bottom bowl of the Jackson Memorial Fountain at City Park. The cast iron statue shattered into numerous pieces.

Repairs have been made to the fountain in the past, including by Spencer Creel, Enoch said. The lions at the fountain also are not the originals, he said.

The Jackson Memorial Fountain, placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984, was erected by the Jackson family, which was prominent in the Nineteenth and early Twentieth centuries in Wood County. The grandson of Gen. John Jay Jackson, James Monroe Jackson Jr., who died in 1903, bequeathed $5,000 to purchase the fountain.

William Willard Jackson, the executor of the estate, bought the fountain in New York City while he was on his honeymoon. The fountain was built in 1905.

According to the application to the historic register, the original fountain had three tiers of bowls.

The top bowl had a diameter of 8 feet and was where the Lady of the Lake was mounted. The middle bowl of 13 feet diameter held the pedestal upon which the top bowl was mounted.

Photo by Jess Mancini Jackson Memorial Fountain at City Park was damaged by wind Saturday night. The top bowl, upon which sat the Lady of the Lake, was blown off the fountain, erected more than 100 years ago as a tribute to the Jackson family.

The bottom bowl, which had a diameter of 30 feet, held the pedestal for the middle bowl and was the foundation for the entire fountain, the application said. The original fountain was 30 feet high. With the top basin removed, it is 20 feet high, the application said. The top tier was removed because of aging and the statue was placed on the second bowl, according to the application.

“Despite alterations that have reduced the dimensions of the cast iron fountain, the object remains much as it appeared in the early 20th century,” the application said. “It remains the largest and most significant known Victorian cast iron object of ornamental design in West Virginia.”

A couple of trees were also knocked down in City Park on Saturday, officials said.

Parkersburg City Public Works Director Everett Shears said they will start clean up at City Park in full force this morning when they have the personnel to really go after it. Officials put up caution tape around the scenes they wanted to keep people out of.

The winds also impacted some gatherings in Parkersburg.

Photo by Jess Mancini The wind Saturday night caused this oak tree to break at City Park in Parkersburg.

It might have been a little chilly outside, but that didn’t halt the crowds of people on Market Street enjoying the annual ArtOberfest early Saturday evening in the closed 700 block of Market..

The event was put on by the Parkersburg Art Center and The Parkersburg Brewing Co from 5-8 p.m. Saturday. While the event began outdoors, a spate of heavy wind and rain just after 7 p.m. caused the activities to move indoors at the art center for the rest of the evening, a contingency the organizers had made plans for.

Jessie Siefert, managing director of the art center, said the wind caused some umbrellas, tents and tables to be overturned. Visitors joined with vendors and volunteers to quickly clean up the debris before the activities moved inside.

Belpre Mayor Mike Lorentz said tree limbs along Braun Avenue came down in the winds, knocking out power to a number of local residents. An AEP Ohio spokesperson said there were 290 people without power in Belpre throughout the windstorm Saturday night.

Belpre Police reported Sunday night they believed all power in Belpre had been restored.

Photo by Jess Mancini Limbs are strewn around an oak tree that was felled by high wind on Saturday night at City Park.

The AEP Ohio spokesperson said there were over 1,000 additional people in Washington County who were without power Saturday night. AEP Ohio’s website shows power has been restored for most local areas, as of 9:45 p.m. Sunday.

MonPower spokesman Jeff Straight said the Parkersburg area, including Parkersburg, Vienna, Williamstown and the surrounding area, had around 7,000 customers out at 9 p.m. Saturday night.

“All of those have since had their power restored,” he said at 8:20 p.m. Sunday.

Overall, MonPower had over 14,000 customers out across its coverage area, Straight said. Those still without power were expected to be restored by 11:30 p.m. Sunday.

Marietta Police reported no major incidents as a result of the wind.

Wood County 911 Director Rick Woodyard said he did not get any calls related to major problems out in the county.

“I’m sure there were probably sporadic damage around our area,” he said of tree limbs coming down and other minor damage.

Vienna Mayor Randy Rapp said he did not receive any calls of problems in Vienna.

“I haven’t had a call, not a one,” he said Sunday.

Williamstown Public Works Director Alan Gates said he had nothing reported to him. Williamstown Mayor Jean Ford said she had not heard of any problems, but she was shopping as the winds came through.

“I came out of the store and it was really wild,” she said.

The National Weather Service in Charleston is forecasting mostly sunny conditions, with some clouds, throughout the week with highs in the 50-60s during the day and lows in the 50s at night. Rain is not expected again until at least Saturday with a 30 percent chance.

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