Tanner Huffman used a chainsaw to remove a tree that fell Tuesday morning in Mound Cemetery in Marietta. Several large evergreens were knocked down by high winds. Crews from the city of Marietta had to unblock streets and sidewalks around the cemetery. (Photo by Art Smith)

From staff reports

PARKERSBURG — The Mid-Ohio Valley region was cleaning up from several storms Monday night and Tuesday morning while the power companies worked on fixing outages Tuesday afternoon.

Will Boye, spokesman for First Energy, said there were a number of outages which resulted from storms that moved through the area Monday night into Tuesday morning.

“We are experiencing outages in West Virginia due to thunderstorms that moved through our service territory (Monday) night,” he said. “The storms resulted in downed trees and wires, broken poles and damaged equipment.”

As of 11:30 a.m. Tuesday the company had about 22,000 customers who were without power in their service area, down from the 46,000 customers originally affected, he said. First Energy and MonPower serve 539,047 customers in West Virginia.

Crews from MonPower and Asplundh worked to remove a tree that had fallen on 27th Street in Vienna Tuesday afternoon after heavy storms moved through the area in the early morning hours which resulted in power outages for many Vienna residents. (Photo by Douglass Huxley)

“Our crews are currently working to restore power to customers as quickly and safely as possible,” Boye said Tuesday afternoon.

At 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, MonPower reported 89 outages around the Parkersburg area. By 1:30 p.m., they were reporting around 55 outages.

AEP Ohio, as of 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, reported there were 18 outages around Marietta with 1,674 customers affected, 391 customers were without power around Vincent, four outages were reported around Belpre with 11 customers affected, three around Dunham with 20 customers affected and nine outages between Fleming and Marietta with 150 customers affected. Outages were being assessed near Watertown with 41 customers affected and two near the Barlow-Vincent area and 22 around the Reno area and five in Devola.

An AEP Ohio spokeswoman said crews were working 16-hour shifts in the hardest hit areas.

As of 1 p.m. Tuesday, out of the nearly 28,000 customers in Washington County, only around 2,400 were still without power, the spokeswoman said. By 3 p.m., AEP Ohio was reporting only around 320 customers were still without power.

Rylan Hamilton and Tyler Moore removed tree limbs from a home on 41st Street in Vienna on Tuesday. A Monday evening storm downed trees and lines in the region, causing numerous power disruptions. The street was barricaded until the limb, which brought down a utility line in the road, was removed. (Photo by Jess Mancini)

“We have crews continually working around the clock,” the spokeswoman said. “We have trees down, poles and wires down.

“We have to get into some of the hardest hit areas to do the work.”

Parkersburg Mayor Tom Joyce said city personnel removed two trees Tuesday morning, one from Washington Avenue and another in the area around Emerson and Murdoch avenues.

“Other than that I am not aware of anything other than general cleanup of branches and such from both City and Southwood parks,” Joyce said.

There were some residents without power, but none of the city properties were without power as of 3 p.m. Tuesday, the mayor said.

Crews from Mon-Power and Asplundh worked to remove a tree that had fallen on 27th Street in Vienna Tuesday afternoon after heavy storms moved through the area in the early morning hours which resulted in power outages for many Vienna residents. (Photo by Douglass Huxley)

Most of the outages in Vienna were in the northern part of the town in the upper end, according to Vienna Mayor Randy Rapp.

Over on 41st Street near River Road, Rylan Hamilton and Tyler Moore removed a limb that blew onto a house. A branch blocked 41st Street road that was barricaded because of a utility line.

About five blocks away, a large tree was uprooted at 46th Street and River Road next to the Parkersburg Country Club. The tree blocked River Road, which also was barricaded to prevent traffic.

Walkers cautioned drivers to turn around and avoid the tree.

“We have trees down all over the place,” Rapp said.

Tuesday’s morning storm uprooted an oak tree on River Road in Vienna, causing it to fall across the road at 46th Street. The city barricaded the road to prevent traffic until the tree could be removed. The storm caused numerous power outages and fallen trees and branches in the region. (Photo by Jess Mancini)

A big tree came down in Howes Grove Park in Belpre. Belpre Mayor Mike Lorentz said it was the last giant red oak tree in the park.

“It was also the oldest tree in the park,” he said.

Belpre resident Rose Alkire was at Howes Grove Park on Tuesday morning looking at the fallen tree, remarking how she regularly passed it while out walking. She had walked by it the day before looking at the memorial trees in the park and a friend remarked about how pretty the tree was but they believed it was hollow due to time and weather and how it could be susceptible to bad weather.

“The storm hit and took it down,” she said. “It was probably here before Belpre was Belpre. I hate to see trees go down. I just love trees that have been around forever. The other trees (in the park) are so pretty. I hope they can maintain them.”

Lorentz said city crews would be cleaning up the park once they handled other spots in town. He said they had a tree down along Elm Street and a tree down along Rockland Avenue at George Street.

A large red oak tree came down in Belpre’s Howes Grove Park as a result of the storms that hit the area Monday night and Tuesday morning. Officials said it was the oldest tree in the park. City crews will begin the work of removing it. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

“We’ve got limbs down everywhere,” Lorentz said of spots throughout the city.

A tree also came down on a house along an alley off Florence Street in Belpre. City crews won’t be handling that one as it could cause more potential damage to the home, Lorentz said, adding a professional tree service business will have to come in and remove it.

Monday night’s storm left trees down all over Washington County and several hundred homes without power.

At 10 a.m. Tuesday, Washington County still had 2,498 outages, but by 1:30 p.m., they were down to 770. Morgan County was down from 905 to 871 and Noble County was down from 21 to 5. Monroe had fewer than five outages as a result of the storm.

As of 6 p.m. Tuesday, Washington County still had 701 homes without power. Morgan County had 691 homes, Monroe County had less than five, and Noble County had five.

AEP Ohio said approximately 120,000 customers were without power Tuesday morning “after lightning and wind gusts up to 75 miles per hour crossed the state and took down trees and power lines. At the height of the storm more than 155,000 customers were affected.”

The numbers were whittled away throughout the day as crews tackled the thousands of outages around the area. City and county crews were busy clearing roads of downed tree limbs and debris.

Washington County Engineer Roger Wright said his crews were working all day on cleanup. He said it was mostly scattered damage, but trees were down on three-quarters of the county.

“They were hit hard in the Belpre, Little Hocking, Dunham Township area,” he said. “There was a little heavier damage on the western side of the county.”

He said they were checking near Newport, but there didn’t seem to be much damage in that part of the county.

“We’ve had two crews running full-strength trying to get the roads open,” Wright said Tuesday. “We’ll have to come back out and do clean up.”

He said people may see broken or cut off limbs where crews were working, but their main goal was to clear the roads. They’ll come back through and clean up when all the roads are passable.

Chris Hess, Marietta’s public works superintendent, said his crews were also busy Tuesday.

“(The storm) seemed to make a sweep … a wide path down Washington Street to Tupper Street, and from Second Street through about Eighth Street,” Hess said. “There were a couple of areas hit on Lancaster Street on Harmar Hill, but that’s about how wide and long it was.”

Crews will continue to work to clear streets, he said, noting the clean up was all tree limbs and tree debris.

Belpre maintenance workers worked on clearing out a downed tree along Rockland Avenue at the corner of George Street Tuesday morning. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)