Emergency response crews from around Butler County were busy as storms swept through the area Tuesday afternoon.
Shortly before 2 p.m. a call came in from the Butler County Humane Society on Evans City Road in Connoquenessing Township that the building had been struck by lightning. A second strike was reported shortly after in Center Township in the 500 block of Brookstone Court. A utility pole was also reported struck by lightning in the city of Butler on West Wayne Street near Virginia Avenue. The extent of damage from those strikes is unknown at this time.
In addition, starting around 1:45 p.m. reports of high winds sending trees onto wires and wires to the ground came in from Lancaster, Center, and Franklin Townships. A power outage in Lancaster Township has left over 100 West Penn Power customers without power as of 2:30 p.m. Over 1,000 Central Electric Cooperative members are experiencing a service outage as of 3 p.m. including some in the Prospect area.
Written by Ryan Saeler