BLACKSVILLE, W.Va. — Western Monongalia County was pounded by storms Thursday night which contained some straight line winds.
NWS spotters began to report tree damage as early as 6:50 p.m., and by 7:21 p.m., the storm was in full swing based on calls to Monongalia County MECCA 911. Executive Director Jim Smith said team members from his office along with representatives from the National Weather Service were surveying damage Friday.
“We’ve been out this morning looking at a couple of the areas where we had trees down,” Smith said. “We’re not finding any twisting in the trees. We’re not finding the tops of the trees missing. It looks like the trees were basically blown over straight.”
Smith said there were 24 reports of trees down in the county including one into a structure in Westover and another into a structure off of Route 7 west. Electric lines were reported down in 16 locations in the county, along with four reports of flooded roads and one report of a flooded structure.
“It appears most of the damage occurred from Little Indian Creek Road coming in toward town along Route 7 in the Core area, to Westover, and then hopping over into Morgantown—around Toms Run Road, we had a report of a tree down,” Smith said.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Mike Kennedy said the storm started as a major cell with rotation that collapsed and formed two strong thunderstorms.
A Blacksville woman driving home from work was notified by her husband that he and their daughter fled to the basement and advised her to stop and take cover. The woman eventually made it home to find her family safe, but the roof was severely damaged and there was extensive water damage in the home.
“Right before they got to Blacksville, there was one to the north and one right to the west; they both collapsed at the same time,” Kennedy said. “So, it was most likely straight-line winds.”
Kennedy said the warning system provided residents with more than 30-minute notice, giving them ample time to take cover.
“The warning was actually out at 6:17 p.m., and Blacksville was right in the heart of it,” Kennedy said. “It’s unfortunate there were quite a few trees down, but for people, there was quite a bit of lead time, like 30 minutes.”