• Residents gladly losing their limbs – Columbus Dispatch
• Windstorm: Help Available – Columbus Dispatch
• Editorial: The wind blew, but count your blessings – The Plain Dealer
• First Energy says 2,800 homes still without power – The Plain Dealer
• DP&L says 11,000 to get power on Sunday – Dayton Daily News
• Some criticize DP&L – Dayton Daily News

Other News

• Few Central Ohio Fire Depts Hit National Standard for Response Time – Columbus Dispatch
• Undecided voters hold key in Ohio – Dayton Daily News
• State keeps ambulance-run data under wraps – Columbus Dispatch
• Ohio survey gives McCain six point edge – Toledo Blade
• Op-Ed, Joe Hallett: Truth Stretching the Norm in Politics – Columbus Dispatch
• Op-Ed, Jonathan Riskind: Economic Tremors will Have Major Effect in OH – Columbus Dispatch
• Healthcare: How McCain’s, Obama’s plans would help – Columbus Dispatch
• Ohio Poll: McCain over Obama 48-42 – Columbus Dispatch
• Endorsements: Stivers and Tiberi – Columbus Dispatch
• Endorsement: Re-elect LaTourette – The Plain Dealer
• Op-Ed, Thomas Suddes: Ensuring full employment for ex-legislators – The Plain Dealer
• Kevin Kelley used to coming out on top – The Plain Dealer
• Small streams all determine Lake Erie water quality – The Plain Dealer
• Tony Hall to endorse Obama in Christian radio ad – Dayton Daily News
• Regula leaves mark – Akron Beacon Journal
• Obama leads NE Ohio – Youngstown Vindicator

Since devastating winds hit the state of Ohio throughout the day Sunday, over 80 percent of AEP Ohio´s customers affected by the storm have been restored. As of 6 a.m. today, more than 550,000 AEP Ohio customers have had their electricity service restored. Just over 130,000 AEP Ohio customers remain without power.

Even the Governor and First Lady didn’t have power on Wednesday night. No report on whether or not AEP has come through for them yet. As I was leaving work last night, a friend from Clintonville got a call in the elevator that his power was back on. There were fist pumps.

Dayton Power & Light

We are making steady progress as 1,000 people work on the emergency restoration effort, including assistance from eight neighboring states. Overnight, service was restored to 6,000 customers. As of 7 a.m. Friday, 74,000 customers are without power. By Sunday, we plan to have the vast majority of customers back in. Final, individual pockets of outages could take longer.

Ohio Edison

AKRON, Ohio – Service to 93 percent of FirstEnergy’s utility operating company customers has been restored following Sunday’s massive wind storm. As of 10:00 a.m. Thursday, approximately 70,400 customers of Ohio Edison, Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company, Pennsylvania Electric and Pennsylvania Power remain without service.

AEP is reporting 330,000 of their 650,000 customers who were without power have had service restored. Following this link will take you to their Storms & Outages information page. If you live in the Columbus area there are links to maps of sections of the metro area with estimates of when power will be back on.

Dayton Power & Light latest information can be found here. Wednesday morning they were reporting half of their customers who were without power have been restored with about 105,000 customers left. They are also reporting they are finding unreported damage as they repair the grid which is adding some time to efforts.

Lines Down in Dayton Area

Click Here for Latest Windstorm News from Dayton, West Cent. Ohio from The Dayton Daily News

Dayton Power & Light Consumer Information

American Electric Power – Ohio

Columbus Dispatch home page – storm coverage

NE Ohio updates from Cleveland Plain Dealer

Other News

Officials try to stem crisis; Fed to meet – New York Times

Shares drop in Europe and Asia – New York Times

Race for cash at A.I.G. – New York Times

Wall Street posts first loss since 2001 – New York Times

Galveston: Searchers fear more grim discoveries – Houston Chronicle

Bank turmoil slams Asian indexes – Wall Street Journal

Fed’s mettle will continue to be tested – Wall Street Journal

Op-Ed: Why Obama’s Health Plan is Better – Wall Street Journal

Government struggles to control crisis – Washington Post

The view from the greater Columbus area was surreal in places after several hours of sustained winds of 30-50 m.p.h. with hurricane gusts of 75-77 m.p.h. Trees of three to four feet in diameter uprooted and knocked over were almost commonplace Sunday night and Monday morning as people ventured out to look for open restaurants or just sightsee. The occasional numbskull blew through dead traffic lights like one of Ike’s gusts. I can’t believe there hasn’t been a T-bone car accident at every non-functioning traffic signal in town.

Governor Strickland announced this afternoon that by everyone’s best count there were approximately 2 million electric utility customers without power around the state. Here in Central Ohio, 60% of American Electric Power’s customers were without service. For the first time since moving to my Bexley neighborhood four months ago, I saw groups of kids moving in knots from yard to yard. I guess all those little rugrats really do spend their days indoors. Strickland declared a state of emergency for the state, making it a simpler proposition for state agencies to render local assistance to counties and municipalities. Ted Strickland is a swell guy. Thank God, Ken Blackwell didn’t win that election. With all of his hot air we’d have trees blowin’ over every day.

My power went out around 4:30 p.m. Sunday and was restored at about the same time on Monday. If it wouldn’t have been for both mine and my wife’s car becoming entombed in our detached garage – there’s no side door – being without power would’ve been fine for a day. It’s a hassle, sure. But the quiet at night and watching the neighborhood come to life for a few hours Sunday evening and Monday morning was worth it. I wonder if that taste of outdoors adventure set in with those kids? I’ll have to keep my eyes out for them …

For Latest Updates Click Here for Main Page

From Cincy Enquirer 1

• Gas prices, supply make people nervous – Columbus Dispatch
• Governor Strickland declares emergency – Columbus Dispatch
• Repairs could take a week – Columbus Dispatch
• AEP OHIO Power Outage Information – AEP Ohio Website
• Restoring service could take a week in some areas – Cincinnati Enquirer

Illustration by Dayton Daily News

• Dayton Power & Light: Repairs could stretch into weekend – Dayton Daily News