Storm aftermath cleanup begins

An Austintown woman and her son huddled in a closet as a tree crushed the home’s garage.

By JEANNE STARMACK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — Crews worked throughout Saturday to restore order after Friday’s strong storms downed trees and power lines all over the greater Youngstown area.

Power, however, may remain out in some areas until Monday.

One man was killed by a lightning strike in Beaver Township. David Copeland, age not given, of 9463 New Buffalo Road, was pronounced dead at St. Elizabeth Health Center’s emergency center in Boardman after being struck in his yard about 4:30 p.m., police reported.

There were no other deaths or serious injuries reported.

Walter Duzzny, director of the county’s Emergency Management Agency, said damages are mostly on private property, and will be dealt with by homeowners and their insurance companies.

He estimated that there will be several hundred thousand dollars in uninsured damages.

Duzzny also said people who hire contractors to remove downed trees from their properties should watch closely that they do the jobs properly.

A close call

Several homes in Austintown and in Youngstown sustained serious damage, he said.

In Austintown, Jennifer Haught of 166 Forest Hill Drive took stock of her situation after a tree crushed her garage while she and son Braden, 9, huddled in a closet inside their home. “I don’t have a basement,” she said.

She’s just glad she and Braden got through the crisis. She ventured from the closet once during the storm to look out her sliding-glass door. When she saw her garage was gone, she went back inside and didn’t come out again until she heard banging on her door about 4:30 p.m. Neighbors had come to check on her.

It isn’t safe for her to go into her badly damaged garage yet to see what shape her car, a 2003 Jeep Liberty, is in.

She’s insured and was expecting a visit from her claims adjuster.

Restoring power

Of the 80,000 Ohio Edison customers who lost power during the storm, most have it back, said Paul Harkey, Ohio Edison’s area manager.

About 5,000 people were still without power late Saturday afternoon, with 3,500 of them in the Youngstown area, Harkey said.

The other 1,500 are scattered in Mercer County, New Castle, Alliance and Salem, he said. He said power was expected to be restored late Saturday for Pennsylvania customers.

Harkey said hazard and forestry crews worked throughout the night to assess storm damage and begin clearing trees and debris from equipment. He said 150 additional line crews were in the area from power companies in Toledo, Pennsylvania, Cleveland, Akron, Springfield, Kent and Elyria.

They began work at daybreak to restore power.

He said the majority of customers still without power should have it restored by today.

The last 1,000 customers will be the hardest to help, he said, because their service will be the most labor-intensive to restore.

“There will be a lot of work to be done.” He said those customers will likely not have service until Monday.

Clearing away debris

Hardest hit in the Youngstown area were the East Side and Campbell, the North Side, and the West Side into Austintown. An area near Mill Creek Park on the West Side was particularly hard-hit, he said.

Youngstown Fire Department reported Saturday that it was still getting sporadic calls about downed trees and other problems. A department spokesman said YFD and the city road department were out “doing what we can.”

Campbell reported Saturday that all streets are open and debris has been cleared.

Boardman, Austintown, Springfield Township, Canfield, the Mahoning County 911 center, the Trumbull County 911 center, Warren and Salem reported Saturday afternoon that their areas were pretty much back to normal.

There were no tornadoes in the region, the National Weather Service in Cleveland said. There was a funnel cloud spotted in Summit County at 3:17 p.m., but it did not touch down. Summit also had hail that was 41⁄4 inches in diameter.

No hail of significant size was reported in the Youngstown area, and the damage here was caused by straight-line winds, the weather service said.

Straight-line wind is wind that comes out of a thunderstorm. If the winds meet or exceed 58 mph, then the NWS classifies the storm as severe. Straight-line wind damage will push debris in the same direction the wind is blowing, hence the creation of the term, the NWS says.