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22,000 in Akron area wait for electricity to return
By Staff and wire reports
Published on Wednesday, Sep 17, 2008
Tens of thousands of homes and businesses remain without electricity after Sunday's storm whipped high winds through the area.
FirstEnergy Corp. spokesman Mark Durbin said Tuesday evening that about 22,000 in the Akron area were without power, down from about 41,000 Monday morning.
'''It was a huge storm,'' Durbin said of the remnants of Hurricane Ike.
Statewide, 1.3 million homes and businesses still were without power, the Ohio Emergency Management Agency said.
Utilities around the state have restored power to about 500,000 customers since Monday.
Gov. Ted Strickland visited wind-damaged sections of Cincinnati, Dayton and Columbus on Tuesday as residents continued efforts to clean up neighborhoods and cope without power.
Hurricane Ike is responsible for six deaths in Ohio, five from falling trees and one person who was electrocuted while working on a generator.
Durbin said crews are being brought in from FirstEnergy operations in the Toledo area, Pennsylvania and New Jersey to help restore power.
About 300 FirstEnergy workers will arrive in Ohio today from the Galveston/Houston area, where they are restoring power after Hurricane Ike hit last week, Durbin said.
He predicted that some customers might be in the dark until the weekend.
''The priority is where we can get the most back on in the quickest amount of time,'' Durbin said.
A power distribution line that serves 800 customers, for example, would take
priority over a transformer serving four houses, he said.
In northern Summit County, about 2,400 FirstEnergy customers were without power, down from around 11,000 on Monday morning, Durbin said.
In the Massillon area, around 2,000 were in the dark — about half the number Monday morning, he said.
About 4,500 customers had no electricity in the Kent area. In the Medina area, about 3,500 were without power.
In all, about 213,000 First-Energy customers in Ohio remained without electricity, including about 111,000 in the Greater Cleveland area.
In Stark County, about 49,000 American Electric Power customers remained without power. That's down from a peak of 69,000 Monday.
Hardest hit areas included Canton, Minerva, Malvern, East Sparta and Robertsville.
The widespread nature of the outages means it could be midnight Friday before power is restored to 90 percent of affected customers.
''It's very similar to the devastation of an ice storm,'' said AEP spokeswoman Shelly Haugh. ''There are pockets of downed power lines, trees causing problems for neighborhoods in just about every community that we serve.''
In Wayne and Holmes counties, AEP customers still in the dark numbered about 12,000 — down from about 16,000 Monday.
The utility was using a helicopter to assess damage in remote areas.
Some area schools — including three in the Akron district — were closed for a second day following Sunday's storm.
In the Akron district, Goodyear and Hyre middle schools and Rankin Elementary were closed. The entire Akron district was closed Monday.
Also in Summit County, the Springfield district's Young Elementary was still closed Tuesday because of lack of power.
In Stark County, the Canton district was shut down Tuesday, while in the Plain district, Frazer Elementary and the Little Eagle Kindergarten Center at Plain Center were closed.
Other Tuesday closings in Stark included the Minerva and Sandy Valley school districts and Marlington high and middle schools.
In Portage County, the Kent district's Holden Elementary was closed. In Wayne County, the Southeast district's Holmesville Elementary was closed Tuesday.
Tens of thousands of homes and businesses remain without electricity after Sunday's storm whipped high winds through the area.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Posted 08:30 AM, 09/17/2008
Nice to know that those of us that have been without power since before the storm started on Sunday are considered second hand customers. Check your records. We are the group of five homeowners that had a transformer blow up on a pole near our houses, the report that was logged by the Coventry Fire Department. Thanks Ohio Edison! I have no power which in turn means no water which in turn means I can't even flush my toilet.
Posted 09:25 AM, 09/17/2008
Should have had a generator! I can't believe this would have been the first time your power would have been off. Jeesh, when will people learn. Save for a year and buy a 350-700 dollar (depending on what you want to run) generator. I'm the only one with power in my neighborhood. I have water, septic, AC/heat, etc, etc. I'll never depend on someone else to provide for my family after the blackout in 2003.
Posted 09:28 AM, 09/17/2008
yes I am sick of the attitudes of those who answer the phones,they are ones that probably have power and are very nasty when you try and get some information
Akron, OH
Posted 09:46 AM, 09/17/2008
Gee, i'm just glad for a roof over my head, unlike those that are suffering even more in the TX area and won't have power for at least a MONTH! The electricity in my parents neighborhood was out from Sunday afternoon until about 6:30 last night when a crew from Pennsylvania came and restored it. They really didn't complain at all. Some people just have to be a little more patient and be thankful for what they DO have.
Posted 10:23 AM, 09/17/2008
My point was that those of us that are in groups of four or five should not be pushed to the end of the line. First out, first repaired.
Barberton, OH
Posted 10:32 AM, 09/17/2008
I don't care about those in Texas without power. Those people most likely have even more damage than anything we experienced, which means they will get properly compensated by the insurance companies. WE on the other hand, are just SIMPLY without power, and safe water. Nobodies making claims on that, because they can't, it's just a matter of straight up suffering for us who happen to be on one of those streets where the power is out, but is on everywhere else around you. It's like Lord of the Flies on my street, and I fully expect my pets' heads to be on pikes when I return home tonight to my house in the prehistoric jungle that is Barberton. :)
Posted 03:59 PM, 09/17/2008
I am happen to agree with Ed most of those people with out power in Texas were for warned ahead of time and could have gotten out they were stupid and decided to ride it out. We had no warning and not time to prepare for this. To Fair Veteran I am glad that you have money that you can save but most us are struggling from pay check to paycheck why because we have taxes taken out to help support other people and OH lets not forget to help bail out stupid insurance companies! Give me my tax money back and I will gladly buy what me and my kids need to survive in this.
Posted 05:26 AM, 09/18/2008
Power back on at 9 last night. Thank you and I hope all others have their power soon.
