Chris Eck is spokesman for First Energy as well as its subsidiary, The Illuminating Company which serves the Greater Cleveland area. He says heavy winds and collapsing branches last night knocked out power to about 25-thousand customers in Ohio.
“The bulk of those folks were down in Springfield, Ohio, west of Columbus. And we still have a little less than a thousand folks still out down there, and in Illuminating Company territory, we have currently less than 700 people without power. We expect to have everybody back up in Cleveland by midnight tonight.”
Eck says First Energy crews are still working around the clock to restore power. He urges residents to be patient and to avoid any downed power lines in case they’re still active.
And at last check, American Electric Power was working to restore power to roughly 4,100 customers in southern Ohio and West Virginia.
(Report by ideastream's Brian Bull.)