Storms which roared through Upshur County, beginning about 8:30 p.m. Thursday, caused some damage and contributed to widespread power outages for both SWEPCO and Upshur Rural Electric.

Downed trees knocked out some power lines and caused damage to homes.

SWEPCO spokesmman Scott McCloud, at company headquarters in Shreveport, La., said that at the storm’s height, there were 17,700 customers without power throughout their system in East Texas.

Gilmer, Gladewater, Carthage and Center were among the places heavily hit, McCloud said.

The selectove storm skipped Marshall, Henderson and Mineola, he said.

At the peak, 1,776 customers were without power in Gilmer. This quickly began going down, and was at 1,100 by 1 a.m. The number progressed downward, until at 8 a.m., 50 people were out on three circuits in Gilmer, McCloud said.

Their Estimatedd Time to Restoration was to have 95 percent restored systemwide by 5 p.m. Friday.

Many Upshur Rural customers were reportedly without power, but their numbers were not available at press time.