Wind gusts of up to 60 mph blew through Southwest Virginia on Wednesday, downing trees and power lines, leaving thousands of people without electricity, and spreading a brush fire in Roanoke County.

About 1 p.m. Wednesday, Appalachian Power Co. reported that nearly 13,500 customers were without power. Most of those outages were in Bedford, Franklin, Roanoke and Pulaski counties.

Power was expected to be restored to the majority of customers by Wednesday night, but some areas that had more damage, such as Christiansburg and Pulaski County, are not expected to get power back until 5 p.m. today, said company spokesman Todd Burns.

The combination of recent moisture and high winds created unstable conditions for poles and lines, Burns said.

"It's not a good situation for us," he said.

In Southwest Roanoke County, firefighters battled a brush fire that broke out sometime before 3 p.m. in the Poor Mountain area.

Firefighters had trouble reaching the fire off Ridgelea Road, having to hike up the mountain above Whitlow Auto Crushers. The fire was determined to be about 20 acres Wednesday evening.

No homes were in danger, according to a press release from Jennifer Conley Sexton, Roanoke County spokeswoman. About 30 personnel were on the scene, she said, and the Virginia Department of forestry brought in a bulldozer. Fire suppression efforts will continue today.

Elsewhere, wind damage appeared to be limited to dozens of downed trees.

The Virginia Department of Transportation received at least 20 reports of trees in roads in the Roanoke and New River valleys, said spokeswoman Heidi Coy.

The National Weather Service in Blacksburg placed most of Southwest Virginia under a high wind warning until 9 p.m. Wednesday as a strong cold front pushed through.

The winds were expected to calm to 5 mph today, according the weather service.

In Northern Virginia, a Roman Catholic priest was killed by a falling tree.

The Loudoun County Sheriff's Office says the Rev. Michael C. Kelly got out of his car Wednesday to try to move a tree and another motorist stopped to help.

A second tree then fell, striking and killing the 53-year-old priest, who was the pastor at St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church in Purcellville.

Dominion Virginia Power estimated that more than 36,000 homes and businesses were without power in central and eastern Virginia.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.