The Daily Graphic: High Winds in Central Ohio Bring More Power Outages

AEP is having another rough night tonight.  As I write this in Bexley, the lights are blinking and the TV news is wall to wind weather.  Winds have gusted up to 66 mph at Port Columbus and there are, according WSYX, 24,000 or so customers without power in Central Ohio.  The map below is something you can navigate to here.  It’s updated by AEP as they bring people back online or as others lose their load.  This screen grab was taken at 11:13 p.m. Wednesday.

Ohio Windstorm Power Outages Update – Friday A.M.

AEP-Ohio

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.

West Central/Central Ohio Power Outages: Wednesday p.m.

Information from the Utilities

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

Tuesday a.m. – Ohio Windstorm Storm Updates & Wall Street Woes

Storm Links

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

Ohio Wrestles with Remnants of Hurricane Ike

Sunday was the Wind, Monday began the cleanup

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