A predicted storm cluster slammed into Butler County Friday, causing wire and tree damage, and triggering a Tornado Warning for Butler and Warren Counties.

The Tornado Warning was issued at 8:46p.m. when National Weather Service radar indicated a debris signature in the Madison Township area, near Middletown. Most of the storm damage was reported in the northern part of the county, particularly around Elk Creek Road, West Alexandria Road, and Hursh Road, according to Butler County Emergency Management Director Matt Haverkos. The EMA is planning an assessment of damage in the Madison Township area Saturday, to see if straight line winds or a possible tornado touchdown caused the damage. A National Weather Service survey team would have to confirm the latter. Power was out to over 27,000 Duke Energy customers at the height of the storm, with more than 1,600 outages reported in Butler County. More than 170 customers were still off line in Seven Mile Saturday morning, as the storm took down multiple wires and a transformer on the 400 block of North Main Street (US-127) around 8:48pm. Liberty Township firefighters were called to a house fire on the 6500 block of Countryside Trail around 8:54pm. No word on if the incident was weather related.

Matt Haverkos