Mercer County residents and electrical crews were still picking up the pieces this morning from a fierce wind storm that howled through the area Saturday night.

Winds clocked at 70 mph ripped through the area, uprooting trees and downing power lines. At the height of the storm, 6,200 Pennsylvania Power Co. customers were without power as brutal winds in frigid temperatures slowed efforts by electrical crews to restore power, said Randy Coleman, area manager for Penn Power.

By 2 p.m. Sunday, 1,250 Penn Power customers were without power and by this morning 190 customers were still without electricity, Coleman said. The remaining outages were widely scattered throughout the county in places such as Hermitage, Greenville, Mercer, Jamestown and Jackson Center, he said.

"The problem about this storm is that we got hit everywhere,'' Coleman said. "That means everything took an extra drive in order to make repairs.''

Extra utility crews were being called in from Zelienople and Coleman said he hoped to have all power restored by tonight. But the storm caused internal electrical damage to some homes, which means those customers will be responsible for that portion of repairs, Coleman added.

To help shivering residents who lost power, the American Red Cross opened the chapter office in Sharon as well as the McQuiston Center in Sandy Lake.

Farrell firefighters said they advised the occupant of 629 Stambaugh Ave. to find somewhere else to stay until a large tree could be removed from the home's roof.

The tree crashed through at about 7 p.m. Saturday, firefighters said, adding that the homeowner is insured.

Firefighters and city street crews had been clearing trees from roads until Penn Power workers could arrive to remove live electric lines. Main roads were cleared by this morning, officials said.

Telephone lines also were blown down throughout the city, firefighters said.

Brookfield firefighters said they believed some township residents still were without power this morning.

Roads were closed all over the township because of downed trees and wires, but they were open by this morning, firefighters said.