Hurricane force winds cause damage, power outages in Lorain County

Hurricane force winds whipped Lorain County on Friday, leaving thousands without power, downing dozens of power lines and even peeling the roofs off of two buildings in Elyria. A weather station in Lorain registered a high wind gust of 77 mph just after 3 p.m. on Friday, said Alex Kennedy, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Cleveland. Wind speeds above 75 mph are classified as "hurricane force," according to the National Weather Service. All of northern Ohio and northwest Pennsylvania were placed under a high wind warning and sustained winds of 30 to 40 mph hit the county throughout the afternoon and into Friday evening. Kennedy said that damage across the region was extensive, and Lorain County was not spared. Elyria Fire Chief Joe Vargo said that firefighters responded to a partial roof collapse at an office at 364 Griswold Road. "Upon arrival, crews determined that a rooftop unit had sustained significant wind damage, compromising the structural stability of the building and creating a partial roof collapse," Vargo said. Crews notified the city administration and Building Department, but were quickly called to other incidents as hundreds of calls flooded into EFD. "During this time, the department received numerous calls for service, including reports of downed electrical wires, trees blocking roadways, trees falling onto residential structures and a dumpster fire caused by downed power lines," Vargo said. Another building at the corner of Cleveland Street and state Route 57 also had its roof partially peeled back on Friday. Fallen tree limbs and power lines also led to thousands losing power on Friday. According to FirstEnergy, 7,182 Lorain County customers were still without power as of 7 p.m., which was down from a high of more than 10,000 customers at 4 p.m. More than 3,000 of the customers still without power were in Avon Lake, while 2,000 were in Lorain and 560 were in Avon. For live updates on power outages, visit the FirstEnergy outage map at outages-oh.firstenergycorp.com/. "Across Elyria, the storm resulted in multiple power outages and damage to commercial buildings, residential homes and vehicles," Vargo said. "I would like to recognize the collaborative efforts of Lorain County dispatch, the Elyria Fire Department, the Elyria Police Department and the Building Department. Incidents of this magnitude place significant strain on local resources; however, all agencies remained committed to delivering the highest level of service to the community we serve." Kennedy said that the speed and duration of the wind storm on Friday were unusual not only for the spring, but in general for the region. "We were talking earlier in the office with the people who have been here, you know, for closer to a decade, and they haven't seen these kinds of winds since, you know, let's say a tropical storm comes up from the east coast and we see the winds we have now," Kennedy said. "It is definitely unusual to see these kinds of winds." The storm on Friday was caused by a passing low pressure system, which brought a cold front in with it and brought high winds rushing in behind as it passed over the area. Kennedy said the intensity of Friday's winds was due to the size of the low pressure system and the fact that its center passed closely over the Lake Erie shore. Winds are expected to slowly return to normal over Friday evening and into today, but an additional low pressure system is forming to the northwest, so the area could see winds pick up again Monday. Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.