FAIRMONT, W.Va. — Residents of Fairmont were busy cleaning up storm damage Friday morning after what many believe what was a microburst hit Thursday afternoon.
The high winds brought down large, old trees in the Highgate community on the city’s West Side. There was also damage reported along U.S. Route 250 west of the city and in the East Grafton Road area.
The storm brought down several power lines, Mon Power spokesman Jeff Straight said.
“We have approximately 5,000 people out (without power),” Straight told WAJR Radio in Morgantown Friday morning. “We anticipate having all of the customers on by the end of the day tomorrow (Saturday). Most of the customers will be back on (Friday).”
Straight said most of the damage came from fallen trees that went into their poles and lines.
“A lot of times that takes considerable effort to get those in place because you have to deal with the damage to get to a certain area,” Straight said.
Mon Power is using contractors to help it in Fairmont and in other outages areas along the U.S. Route 50 corridor.
“We encourage everyone to be patient with us. We’re doing the best we can to get it restored,” Straight said.
Straight said the company’s outage list is updated every 15 minutes.