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High-speed winds rip through the valley
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Hurricane Ike’s diminished winds roared through the Mahoning and Shenango
valleys overnight at 60 mph, leaving 188,000 electric customers without
power by 4 a.m. Monday, said Paul Harkey, Ohio Edison/Penn Power spokesman.
Winds started moving through the area at 7 p.m. Sunday, snapping tree limbs
and toppling trees. Most outages were caused by downed power lines.
Restoring power to all customers could take several days, Harkey said.
Youngstown was the hardest hit with 56,000 electric customers in the dark,
he said. In Salem, 25,000 lost power; Alliance, 13,000; Warren, 16,000;
Kinsman, 6,000; New Castle, 20,000; Mercer, 27,000; and Cranberry Township,
25,000.
At 9:30 a.m. today, 153,000 were still without power: 42,000 in Youngstown,
Salem went up to 26,000; Warren dropped to 12,000; New Castle to 13,000; and
Mercer, 21,000.
Harkey described the work to be done as labor intensive. He said crews from
sister companies are on hand to help.
The Columbiana County Emergency Management Agency said it has been told by
First Energy that about 34,000 customers are still without power in the
Salem and Alliance area.
Statewide, hurricane-like winds left about 1 million households and
businesses without electricity Monday as schools closed and rush-hour
commuters faced obstacle courses of fallen trees and intersections without
working traffic signals.
Sunday’s wind storm caused by remnants of Hurricane Ike killed at least
three people who were hit by toppled trees, authorities said. It could take
a week for power to be restored in some areas.
Winds gusting up to 78 mph ripped roofs from buildings and blocked roadways
across the state, with southwest and central Ohio bearing the brunt of the
storm’s force, according to the National Weather Service.
“What we experienced was a hurricane-force wind gust,” said meteorologist
Myron Padgett at the National Weather Service in Wilmington.
All public libraries in Youngstown and Mahoning County closed. The main
library in the city is without power, as are several of the branches in the
county, said Janet Loew, spokeswoman for the library system.
In Boardman, Walker Mill Road remained closed this morning after a tree fell
across the roadway during Sunday evening’s high winds.
Larry Wilson, township road superintendent, said his crews were called out
about 7:30 p.m. Sunday and continued working until about 2:30 a.m. today.
“We’re back out this morning picking up what we cleared off the roadways
[Sunday] night,” he said.
The Overhill Road area and Erie Street were hit pretty hard with downed
trees, Wilson said, although they had been cleared from roadways to make
them passable.
Fire Chief James Dorman said he knew of no instances where trees fell on
houses during the storm.
“The trees were mostly picking on the power lines,” he said.
The main station on U.S. Route 224 relied on power from a diesel generator
through Sunday night when the power went out. The power returned about 7
a.m. Monday.
A downed tree also closed Shields Road near Park Harbour Drive.
In Poland Village, College Lane was closed because of a downed power line
and a utility pole behind the main fire station snapped, taking several
lines down with it while a branch across a power line on Miller Road at
Struthers Road, Poland Township, closed Miller.
Police agencies in Columbiana County this morning reported scattered power
outages through their communities as streets crews continued to remove
downed trees and branches.
The Columbiana County Emergency Management Agency said it has been told by
First Energy that about 34,000 customers are still without power in the
Salem and Alliance area.