PREBLE COUNTY — Strong pop-up thunderstorms plagued the Miami Valley this past weekend, and many areas of Preble County were not immune to Mother Nature’s ire. The weekend storms left thousands of residents without power for hours on end as high winds took down trees and powerlines across the area.
Thunder and lightning forced postponements of the opening nights of many Friday night high school football games on Aug. 26.
Winds were reported up to 60 miles per hour in some areas, and trees were brought down on roads and homes in Gratis, West Alexandria, Eaton and other locations, during a strong storm which hit Saturday afternoon. The storm knocked out power to many businesses and residents, and as late as noon on Sunday, Aug. 28, 930 remained without power.
At presstime Monday afternoon, Aug. 29, five Preble County residences were reportedly still without electricity, according to Dayton Power and Light officials. Late Monday afternoon, DP&L issued a statement regarding the outages in the area: “Crews continued making restoration progress through the day, we have 174 customers remaining without power at this time. Severe weather Friday night, Saturday afternoon and Sunday evening impacted service for 43,000 DP&L customers. We expect all customers impacted by weekend storms to be restored tonight.”
As the coming weekend nears, temperatures are forecasted to begin decreasing, according to the National Weather Service in Wilmington.
Wednesday is expected to be mostly cloudy, and more showers and thunderstorms are likely in the afternoon, with high temperatures in the lower 80s and lows in the upper 50s. There is a possibility of a shower or thunderstorm in the evening.
Thursday’s forecast is mostly sunny and calls for highs in the upper 70s, lows in the mid-50s.
Friday and Saturday should be mostly sunny with highs in the mid 70s and lows in the mid-50s.
