Homeowners, public works crews and utility repairmen are still working to clean up in the aftermath of a massive wind storm that wreaked havoc on the Tooele Valley on Friday night. The storm toppled trees into homes, collapsed awnings and fences, and snapped utility poles and power lines, causing thousands of people to go without power over the weekend.

Among the most severe of the damage was toppled power poles. Dave Eskelsen, Rocky Mountain Power spokesman, said 18 transmission poles were knocked over by the winds and heavy snow along SR-36 between Tooele and Stockton. Three poles between Tooele and Stansbury were also downed. Broken poles were also reported in Tooele.

Power was restored to most of Tooele by Saturday afternoon, and to all areas in Tooele County by Sunday evening.

Restoring service to Stockton was difficult because the lines damaged in that area were the end of the line, meaning there was no alternative line, Eskelsen said. A generator was brought in to serve Stockton on Saturday, and was in service from that evening until 3 a.m. Sunday, when a mechanical problem caused it to go off-line. Generator service was resumed at 8:20 a.m. Sunday and operated until 7:02 that evening, when transmission system repairs were completed and normal grid power was restored to Stockton.

Rocky Mountain Power crews from American Fork and Layton -- areas less affected by the storm -- were assigned to repairs in Tooele County, including the effort in Stockton, on Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, crews from Ogden and Smithfield also responded to make repairs.

The highest number of customers statewide without power reached 10,000 from Friday night to Saturday morning, according to Eskelsen.

While Eskelsen said he didn't have specific numbers available for outages in each town or city, he did say the bulk of those outages were in Tooele and Salt Lake counties.

Kevin Barjenbruch, warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service Salt Lake City office, said wind gusts of 75 miles per hour were reported in Tooele just before 10 p.m. Friday, as well as straight-line winds. Similar gusts were also reported at Dugway. The storm was part of a series of blustery winter storms that have hit California and moved eastward into the Intermountain West.

The wind tore off siding and roofs, uprooted trees, laid down fencing and flung trampolines into the air.

Many longtime residents said this was the biggest wind storm they had ever seen in Tooele County.

"We've never seen anything like that," said Glenda Shields, a lifelong Pine Canyon resident. "We've had some mighty strong winds here before, but nothing like this."

Shields said her carport -- 24 feet long, 12 feet wide and weighing an estimated 1,000 pounds -- was blown into a tree.

"It happened on Friday night when we had the hurricane," she said. "It just made a heck of a racket when it turned loose."

The neighbor's tree held the carport in place, she said, and several neighbors were able to tie it down.

Cathy Lister, who works at Sweat Fitness in Tooele, said a large metal awning blew off the fitness center and hit her truck. She doesn't know yet how much the damage is estimated at.

Lt. Robert Anderson with the Utah Highway Patrol's Tooele office, said there was one semi with an empty trailer that blew over going eastbound on I-80 at mile marker 96.

In addition to the semi, Anderson said UHP was kept very busy all night long dealing with power outages and trees falling into power lines across the valley.

Tooele City Police Chief Ron Kirby said the damage from the storm made for a very busy weekend as well.

"We had all kinds of stuff associated with the wind, everything from downed power lines to loose animals that got out because fences were blown over, and numerous calls of damage," Kirby said.

A downed power line across Clifford Drive in Tooele caused the closure of that road for a few hours on Saturday, Kirby said.

Angelo Cerroni, caretaker of the Dow James Field, said between 150 and 200 feet of fencing at the Dow James Complex blew down in the storm. He estimates it will cost several thousand dollars to fix.

Max Curry Sr., secretary treasurer for the Curry Insurance Tooele office, said the Grantsville and Tooele offices received 100-plus claims after the storm.

"I've been in the business 35 years in Tooele and that's the most claims I've ever seen from a storm," he said. "I've never seen so many roofs and shingles blown off and fences and trees blown down."

Sarah Miley: swest@tooeletranscript.com