© 2024 Ideastream Public Media

1375 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44115
(216) 916-6100 | (877) 399-3307

WKSU is a public media service licensed to Kent State University and operated by Ideastream Public Media.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
News
To contact us with news tips, story ideas or other related information, e-mail newsstaff@ideastream.org.

40,000 People In Northeast Ohio Still Out Of Power

40,000 people in the Cleveland area are still out of power after a powerful wind storm moved through early this morning. Near hurricane-level wind gusts of 65 mph knocked down utility poles and tree limbs into electrical equipment.

First Energy spokesman Mark Durbin called for patience as it could be as late as Saturday before everyone has their power back on.

"We look to see where we can get the most people back on in the quickest amount of time," Durbin says. "And by that I mean we might have a circuit where one repair will bring 250 customers back on at one time. We're going to do that before we go over to someone's house and reattach a wire that only affects them.

First Energy employees working overtime have so far restored power to 182,000 customers in the Ohio/Pennsylvania service territory.