News
High Wind Causing Power Outages Across The Region
By: Associated Press, Athens Messenger staff reports, Atish Baidya
Posted on:
Update 5:30 p.m.
AEP Ohio is bringing in crews from outside the region to help restore power to thousands of customers in its service area.
It could take crews as much as a day to arrive. A spokesman for the company said they hope to have some crews working to restore power as early as noon Tuesday.
“We are pulling out all the stops to get folks here to help us and get folks back in service,” Jeff Rennie, AEP Ohio’s spokesman said.
The high winds knocked out power in areas around all of the state’s major cities. The number of customers without power peaked at more than 44,000 in the power company’s service area. Buckeye Rural Electric Cooperative reported more than a thousand of its customers experienced outages. In West Virginia more than 4,000 customers in Wayne and Cabell counties had no power.
The types of outages crews will be dealing with range from small individual outages to larger issues related to transmission lines, according to Rennie.
The National Weather Service has wind advisories issued for most areas of Ohio through late Monday night.
So far, no major damage has been reported in the state.
Update 3:45 p.m.
AEP Ohio is bringing crews from outside the region to help restore power to thousands of customers in its service area.
It could take crews as much as day to arrive in the area. A spokesman for the company says they hope to have some crews working to restore power around noon Tuesday.
Update 2:26 p.m.
Strong winds are battering much of Ohio and knocking out power for thousands across the state.
Outages are being reported in areas around Cincinnati, Dayton, Toledo, Columbus, Akron and Cleveland.
Among some of the counties with the largest number of customers without power:
Athens: 4,089
Perry: 6,334
Muskingum: 2,184
Ross: 2,069
Franklin: 13,129
Wind gusts of close to 60 mph were recorded Monday at Toledo Express Airport. Several other cities around Ohio are reporting wind gusts that have been above 50 mph.
The National Weather Service has wind advisories issued for most areas of Ohio through late Monday night.
So far, no major damage has been reported in the state.
Duke Energy reports that about 20,000 customers were without power in Cincinnati and its neighboring counties.
UPDATE:
Due to the high winds experienced in the area, a number of electric wires are reportedly being knocked down in and around the county.
Starting at 11:30 a.m. Monday, 911 dispatchers began receiving reports of the damaged lines. Within minutes, numerous tones were delivered to area fire departments stretching from Coolville to Glouster.
The Richland Area Volunteer Fire Department closed Fisher Road (CR 17) in order to repair a line system. The road was closed between Hebbardsville Road (CR 17A) and Ladd Ridge Road (CR 78) for about an hour.
A brush fire was reported in the area of 6203 Route 56 near Hudnall and Hoover roads due to downed power lines and another hotwire spot was reported on Union Street.
Nelsonville Fire Department was dispatched to 15055 Route 691 to a report of an exploded transformer and wires down and Glouster Fire Department was sent to 8656 Old Route 78 for a report of lines down in a resident's yard.
At 11:30 a.m., it was also reported that the Trimble Middle/Elementary School had lost power due to the high winds and would be dismissing early at 1:15 p.m.
At around noon, it was reported that a large tree was down across the road on Murray City Hill. A tree was reported down and wrapped in power lines across McDougal Road in Athens and Chauncey Fire Department was dispatched to handle a report of a live wire laying on a tree on Route 550, igniting the tree.
High winds are causing power outages across much of the region leaving thousands of people without electricity.
According to the AEP outage map, the outages span much of the region from Canton to Portsmouth. AEP says the outages are being caused primarily by high wind.
The region is under a wind advisory until 8 p.m.