Power outages continue

By KATIE SEMINARA

Some Mahoning Valley residents might be without power through Saturday.

After Sunday night’s storm, 188,000 Ohio Edison/Penn Power Eastern Region customers were left without electricity.

As of late Tuesday afternoon, that number had dropped to 34,000.

Some of the remaining 34,000 might spend part of the weekend in the dark.

All power should be restored by Saturday, said Paul Harkey, Ohio Edison/Penn Power spokesman.

Approximately 2,500 workers are rotating on 16-hour shifts to remove remaining debris and repair downed power lines.

Though service to more than 70 percent of affected customers has been restored, it’s down to labor-intensive repair, said Harkey.

Each repair done now helps a smaller number of customers, and of the remaining outages, an estimated 8,000 involve fewer than 50 customers and approximately 6,500 others affect single customers.

Harkey also noted power restoration is a three-tiered process: Crews work first to remove tree and limb damage, followed by a team that assesses the damage, and then another team does the actual repairs of the lines.

“We appreciate customers being patient,” said Harkey, who re-enforced the issue that safety is as important for repair crews as it is for customers.

“Any down wire should be treated as live,” he said.

Youngstown still had 8,000 customers without electricity on Tuesday, said Harkey. Other areas were as follows: Salem, 8,000; Alliance, 2,000; Warren-Kinsman, 9,000; New Castle, 5,000; and Mercer, 5,000.

Henry Martin, 34, of 155 Jefferson St., Campbell, has been missing since Sunday after his boat overturned on Lake Milton.

Martin was on the lake with Sean Cordova, 30, of 248 S. David St., Girard, and Michael Tooney, 27, of 202 Pittsburgh St., Columbiana, who were both rescued.

Divers continued to search for Martin on Tuesday, and Milton Township Fire Chief Rick Pellin Jr. said the SONAR equipment had a lot of hits, but as of 3 p.m., search teams hadn’t found Martin.

The search will continue today.