December 15th, 2022 by WCBC Radio

 Wide spread power outages and dozens of accidents on the roadways Thursday- the result of an ice storm that moved through the region overnight Wednesday into Thursday morning. The Cumberland Times News reported that the worst of the issues were in Hampshire County, West Virginia, where more than 8,000 Potomac Edison customers had no electricity at one point. The number fluctuated throughout the day and was at about 6,500 by late afternoon. County officials opened a warming shelter at Romney Fire Company due to the number of outages.

The precipitation started to fall early Thursday across the region and most area school systems canceled classes for the day.

An ice storm warning issued by the National Weather Service remained in effect until late Thursday night.

The power outages caused by falling ice coated trees and utility lines also left about 2,400 customers in Hardy County, West Virginia, without power Thursday afternoon. There were scattered outages in Allegany, Garrett and Mineral counties.

Several roads throughout the area were closed because of the fallen trees and lines.

In Allegany County, fallen utility poles and lines briefly closed Douglas Avenue in Lonaconing, where more than 100 customers temporarily lost electrical service.

Hazardous travel conditions caused several property damages accidents in Allegany County but no injuries were reported, according to Roger Bennett, deputy director of the Allegany County Department of Emergency Services.