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State of emergency declared after winds. Many homes still dark
By Jim Carney and Katie Byard
Beacon Journal staff writers
Published on Tuesday, Sep 16, 2008
Linda and William White were at the center of the windstorm Sunday night.
First a neighbor's tree fell on their deck and roof.
Then a tree split in the front yard of their Silver Lake home.
''We heard more noises and we noticed that five more trees in the back had fallen and one had fallen on the deck and roof as well,'' said Linda White, 60, a University of Akron senior lecturer in English.
''When the wind comes through, all you hear is this big swooshing,'' she said of the remnants of Hurricane Ike. ''I was afraid more would come down.''
For the Whites, there was little sleep Sunday night and Monday morning. Even though electricity was restored by about 2 a.m., the family's phone and cable service were still out Monday afternoon.
Power companies in Ohio called in hundreds of reinforcements Monday to fix widespread outages and predicted that some of the 2 million homes and businesses left without power may be in the dark until the weekend.
Gov. Ted Strickland declared a state of emergency, which will allow the Ohio Department of Transportation to help local communities remove debris from roads.
Hurricane-force winds blew through Ohio on Sunday, causing damage in 84 of the state's 88 counties, Strickland said.
The storm was blamed for at least four deaths.
A 12-year-old boy was hit by a tree branch and died of severe head injuries, Lorain County Coroner Paul Matus said.
A falling tree killed two motorcyclists in Hueston Woods State Park in southwestern Ohio, authorities said. And a woman died in the Cincinnati
suburb of Mount Healthy when a tree fell through the roof of her home.
In Summit County, winds of 58 and 56 mph were reported at Akron Fulton International Airport and Akron-Canton Airport. In southern Stark County, a reading of 65 mph was reported in East Sparta.
The highest reading in northern Ohio was 78 mph at the Ashtabula Light House, the weather service said.
The powerful winds toppled trees, blocking numerous roads and downing power lines.
The power outage affected 18 percent of the state's population, making it the most widespread blackout in recent years, said Shana Eiselstein, a spokeswoman for the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.
Without power, schools in dozens of districts in Northeast Ohio were closed Monday.
In Summit County, schools in Akron, Barberton, Copley-Fairlawn, Coventry and Manchester were among those shut down.
High winds peeled a portion of the roof off Hudson's Evamere Elementary School, prompting the district to close the building Monday.
In Stark County, schools in Canton, Canton Local, Fairless, Marlington, Massillon, Minerva, Perry and Plain were closed.
Roads unpassable
Trees, limbs and power lines felled by Sunday's high winds still blocked area roads Monday.
In Akron, the intersection of Mogadore and Canton roads was closed after the winds toppled a large tree that brought down a utility pole and transformer, said Paul Barnett, the city's public works manager.
Motorists were driving around large limbs encroaching onto dozens of other area roads, Barnett said.
Trees landed on at least two houses in the city, Barnett said. A tree fell on a house on Greenwood Avenue in West Akron, and another fell on a house near the intersection of Rosedale and Flanders avenues.
Medina County reported few problems. A State Highway Patrol dispatcher said Monday afternoon that all highways were open and all streetlights were operating.
There were reports of trees toppled onto houses in the city of Medina, and a busy intersection near the city's square was without functioning traffic signals on Monday.
In Portage County, the State Highway Patrol reported that state Route 44 had been closed in two places: in Mantua Township between state Route 303 and state Route 82 and in Randolph Township between U.S. 224 and state Route 619.
In Stark County, the Regional Emergency Dispatch Center, which serves 22 police and fire agencies in 14 communities, including Jackson Township and Massillon, handled about 630 calls on Sunday. That's up from the normal 230 to 250 calls, director Mark Busto said.
In Canton, the 3600 block of Market Avenue was closed because of a large tree down, said Kevin Monroe, the city's superintendent of public works.
In Wayne County, the highway patrol said state Route 94, between Withrich and Hackett roads, and U.S. 250 in Apple Creek had been closed.
Many still lack power
John Wise, director of the Wayne County Emergency Management Agency, said blocked roads were not the problem.
''Power is a problem,'' he said, noting a few nursing homes had to use backup generators for power.
Wise said it was fortunate the storm happened before the weather turned cold and it didn't bring torrential rain.
Rich Weber, deputy director of the Stark County Emergency Management Agency, agreed. ''This time of year, the weather is pretty amenable to us.''
In communities across the region, the cleanup was in full swing Monday.
In North Canton, Mayor David Held encouraged residents to tie up debris in three-foot bundles and place it on the curb.
''We will start collecting it, and we will do it as quickly as we can, but it may take at least a couple of weeks to dig ourselves out,'' he said.
Jim Carney can be reached at 330-996-3576 or jcarney@thebeaconjournal.com.
Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com.
Beacon Journal staff writers Bill Lilley and John Higgins and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Linda and William White were at the center of the windstorm Sunday night.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Posted 12:05 PM, 09/16/2008
Be careful not to confuse Medina City with Medina County. Big difference. I have no knowledge about Medina City, but I know there are plenty of people still without power in Medina County, specifically in Sharon Township off Medina Line Rd on the edge of Summit County, just north of Wadsworth Township. A tree fell on Medina Line Rd, south of 162, and, due to alleged conflicts between Ohio Ed and Medina County, it's still not fixed. People are on well and septic. Thank God it is not raining, too. The folks are grateful they aren't as bad off as the Gulf, but a little cooperation from local powers would be wonderful. A big THANKS to those workers who are out there trying. We appreciate it.
