CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Power outage numbers climbed into the thousands across West Virginia on Monday afternoon as high winds blew through the state.
Shortly before 3 p.m., Appalachian Power was reporting more than 14,000 homes and businesses without power because of high winds in southern West Virginia.
In northern West Virginia, the outage numbers for Mon Power and Potomac Edison, First Energy subsidiaries, were above 5,000.
The largest numbers of power outages on Monday afternoon were in Wayne, Cabell and Jackson counties.
The National Weather Service had issued a Wind Advisory for almost every county in the Mountain State into Monday night. Meteorologists confirmed winds between 10 to 20 miles per hour were blowing, while wind gusts in some areas where clocked at 50 miles per hour or more.
Emergency officials said the wind was strong enough to break tree limbs and branches, bring down power lines and move garbage cans and other outdoor holiday decorations.
At times, driving in high profile vehicles would be difficult, they said.
The winds were expected to subside by Monday night with cooler temperatures to follow throughout West Virginia by Tuesday.