The heavy rain and wind that toppled trees and took power out in many Mahoning Valley communities Thursday and Friday cannot be blamed on the storm that devastated Louisiana.

WFMJ-TV meteorologist Eric Wilhelm said the violent weather activity here was spawned by a “very humid air mass, which was plenty of fuel for the scattered storms.”

The tropical depression that used to be Hurricane Laura is to head south of here on its way to the East Coast, according to forecasters, but the Mahoning Valley can expect the heavy rain to continue until about 10 a.m. today.

The scattered storms took a toll Friday morning and afternoon with high winds taking trees and wires down. A few lightning strikes also were reported.

By 4:10 p.m. Friday, the Ohio Edison website reported just 82 Trumbull County customers remained without power, with scattered outages in Warren and Brookfield. There were some 89 customers without power in Mahoning County with the most in the Coitsville, Campbell and Struthers areas, the website reported.

Campbell Mayor Nick Phillips said he believed Roosevelt Park was hardest hit, calling the area “a hot mess.”

Shortly after the storm pushed through, crews were at the park, cleaning up downed trees.

Phillips said on Friday the city

is looking into making an insurance claim to help clear the park damage.

The mayor said Campbell also reached out to the National Weather Service “to see if we had a small tornado or a microburst.”

He hadn’t heard of any injuries associated with the storm Thursday.

Angel Pagan has lived on Coitsville Road near McCartney Road for about 30 years, and as the storm cleared he was out blowing leaves and debris from his yard.

Not far from his property, a big tree blocked the road.

“I was in the residence and I heard a strong wind. It had to be doing 70, 80 miles an hour,” Pagan said. “I never seen the wind blow that hard.”

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