Tens of thousands without power, many report damage after severe thunderstorms

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Tens of thousands of people were left without power as severe thunderstorms rolled through the area Wednesday evening.

Several counties, including Butler, Darke, Preble and Warren counties, had more than 1,000 power customers in the dark as of 7:30 p.m., according to the AES Ohio and Duke Energy outage maps, though Montgomery County had by far the most outages, with more than 15,000 power customers without electricity around the same time.

As of 8:05 p.m., outage numbers continued to climb, with Montgomery County continuing to lead with more than 21,000 customers in the dark, followed by Greene County with more than 15,000 power customers without electricity.

The following are the numbers of power customers without electricity by county, according to the Duke, AES and Ohio Edison outage maps, as of 9:35 p.m.:

Butler: 4,939

Champaign: 311

Clark: 14,013

Darke: 3,961

Greene: 15,177

Miami: 1,052

Montgomery: 22,727

Preble: 1,491

Warren: 8,591

Reports of storm damage soon followed the severe thunderstorm reports, with many trees reported down across the area from smaller limbs to large whole trees.

Branches down on West Alexandria Road in Madison Twp., Butler County June 18, 2025 following severe thunderstorms. NICK GRAHAM / STAFF

Credit: Nick Graham

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Credit: Nick Graham

One report to the National Weather Service in Wilmington said that a large tree fell on a house in New Lebanon around 6:57 p.m.

A large tree was reported down near Union, bringing down power lines around 7:50 p.m.

Downed high-voltage lines led to I-75 being closed in both directions around Vandalia starting about 7 p.m.

An emergency manager in West Elkton in Preble County reported around 6:40 p.m. that more than 15 trees fell and closed Greenbush and West Elkton Gifford roads, knocking down multiple power lines.

Broken branches were down in the road on West Alexandria Road in Madison Twp., Butler County.

Branches down on West Alexandria Road in Madison Twp., Butler County June 18, 2025 following severe thunderstorms. NICK GRAHAM / STAFF

Credit: Nick Graham

icon to expand image

Credit: Nick Graham

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