Gilmer and Upshur County dodged the brunt of storms which passed through the area early Saturday morning, although SWEPCO and Upshur Rural Electric Cooperative experienced spotty outages.

Camp and Marion Counties were hardest hit in the Upshur Rural coverage area, while SWEPCO reported the greatest outages in Winnsboro, Pittsburg and Mt. Peasant.

At its height, SWEPCO had 8,600 customers without power, while Upshur Rural had 150 scattered outages. The worst-hit part of the Upshur Rural system was in Marion County, where a transmission line was temporarily knocked out.

A tree fell across a power line alongside North Bradford St. in Gilmer, leaving a few residents without power for up to 12 hours.

Rainfall of one inch was reported in the Enon Community, while at Gilmer Municipal Airport, the automated weather station there recorded a total of .33 inch early Saturday. That brought rainfall for the year to 11.13 inches at the airport.

According to the airport, there had been winds of 17 miles per hour Saturday, with gusts higher.

The storms which grazed Gilmer went on to generate deadly tornadoes across the south, especially in Mississippi.

The Mirror’s delivery man, who lives in the Perryville-Simpsonville area, was temporarily stranded when a fallen tree blocked his road.

Gilmer-area subscribers still got their papers because the Post Office delayed their deliveries.

“People want to read their Gilmer Mirrors,” said Gilmer Postmaster Danny Irwin.