24-04-2025
County commission commends response to Easter weekend storm
Apr. 23—MORGANTOWN — In his tenure on the Monongalia County Commission, Jeff Arnett said he's come to understand that unexpected, early-morning phone calls are rarely made to deliver good news.
That goes extra on Easter Sunday.
"Easter morning, after a sunrise service ; we were out of town and [MECCA 911 Director ] Jimmy Smith is calling me, and I'm thinking 'Oh, good Lord, did the town explode ?'" Arnett recalled.
The answer, he soon learned, was yes—to a degree.
Members of the commission took time Wednesday to recognize the efforts made by countless individuals—from first responders to linemen to neighbors and even total strangers—in response to Saturday evening's brief but destructive storm.
"We were without power for almost 48 hours on the other side of the lake. I can't thank enough First Energy Mon Power. They mobilized, and if you saw the parking lot at Kroger yesterday, there had to be 50 trucks down there. Every hotel was filled with the trucks they brought in from the whole region to attack the problem on a holiday, " Arnett said. "For the extent of the damage, we lamented not having power for a couple days—but it's pretty remarkable the amount of power they've got back on in a short period of time."
As of Wednesday morning's 10 a.m. meeting, Mon Power indicated 1, 033 customers remained without power in Monongalia County. Six hours later, the number stood at 589 in all of West Virginia—centered primarily in and around Monongalia County.
Those numbers are down from tens of thousands late Saturday into Sunday morning.
Commissioner Sean Sikora lives in the area of Collins Ferry Road, which saw a series of large power poles snap, dropping transmission lines into the road.
He credits a group of good Samaritans from the Timberline Apartments with likely preventing serious accidents by flagging down drivers and routing them through the apartment complex and around the problem.
"I texted the sheriff. It was about 11 o'clock at night and said, 'Can you guys park a car out here with the flashers on ?' because obviously there was no light and it was pitch dark and there were poles and wires in the road and people were coming down 25, 30 miles an hour, " Sikora said. "If it weren't for these people directing them around ... it made it very safe."
Given the religious significance of the weekend, Commissioner Tom Bloom said he didn't know whether the burning flying WV bushes carried holy significance or a portent of things to come.
"When someone said there was a burning bush, being Jewish, I was like, 'Oh no, what's going on ?'" Bloom joked.
"I want to thank the first responders ... and the public who came out and helped each other. I had one caller say, 'My neighbor, who's never talked to me and I hate, came over with a saw and cut some of the trees down.'" Bloom said. "So, it does bring the best out of people and I really appreciate that."
