WEATHERING THE DAMAGE

By KATIE SEMINARA

City parks, neighborhoods repair storm’s effects

The storm cluttered Wick Park with trees and knocked out power.

YOUNGSTOWN — After the heavy winds and rain of Tuesday’s storm, residents around Wick Park and the Wick Park Recreation Center didn’t have power until 12:30 p.m. Wednesday.

“Our power has been out for about 20 hours now,” said Daniel Denehy as he and his fellow Sigma Alpha Epsilon brothers from Youngstown State University sat on their front porch watching their power lines get repaired.

Adam Garcia was at their Pennsylvania Avenue frat house when the storm came through Tuesday afternoon. He said he heard a lot of heavy winds and hail, and then the power went out.

Although the young men, all YSU students, had no power, they were at least glad the rain reduced the humidity.

Across from Pennsylvania Avenue in Wick Park, the kids at the day camp provided by the Youngstown Park and Recreation Commission were still enjoying their day outside, despite the loss of power in the recreation center.

“We had to clean all this area off for the kids to play,” said Phil Morgan, one of the program directors, as he pointed to the concrete area next to the center’s pavilion.

Usually the kids would be running all over the park and using the playground equipment, Morgan said.

The counselors had to keep the children in a specific area Wednesday because of the large trees down and power lines on the ground.

Even though the camp was up and running, counselors had to use flashlights to search for equipment and food they would have used for the day.

“We had to throw all of our leftover meals away,” said program supervisor Antwan Chilton, who noted the program provides two meals a day for the campers.

The power was back on before the day ended for the kids and counselors, but many trees were still lying all over the park.

Walking paths were covered with branches, and the park’s lawns were cluttered with whole downed trees.

“We are hoping to get everything cleaned up this week,” said Jason Whitehead, the mayor’s chief of staff and acting park director.

The city will work to get the debris cleaned away from the sidewalks and also work to cut up the large, fallen trees.

If the park can’t be cleared in a timely manner, then some of the jobs will be outsourced, Whitehead said.

“Unfortunately, those trees are hundreds of years old, and the past few storms have had a negative impact on the park,” he added.

Crews were working around Wick Park, and the trimmers of Nelson Tree Service were cutting a tree off power lines on Elm Street.

“We have been running around all day,” said Scott Hartz, foreman of Nelson, who was working for FirstEnergy.

His crew had to climb a tree earlier in the day on Salt Springs Road, and they started the Elm Street job around noon.

“They want us to get done before quitting time,” Hartz said.

Although workers like Hartz and his crew will most likely be back at it today, at least they have nice weather for the rest of the week.

According to weather.com, today should be mostly sunny with a high of 80 degrees, and Friday will be partly cloudy with the temperature reaching 84 degrees.