Residents find ways to live without power after storm

Some have checked into hotels; others rely on family and friends.

Staff Report

Wednesday was another day in the dark for about 20,000 Mahoning Valley residents still without electricity that was knocked out by Sunday’s high winds.

Though crews have been working round the clock, some people will be waiting until Saturday for the lights to come on, said Ohio Edison’s Mahoning County area manager Paul Harkey.

As many as 188,000 residents lost power, but as of 4 p.m. Wednesday, the numbers had significantly dropped and many customers should have power restored today.

Specific regions are as follows: Mahoning County, 2,400; Columbiana County, 7,800; Trumbull County, 3,000; Lawrence County, 3,400; and Mercer County 4,600.

About 2,800 line, forestry and service workers, including 300 FirstEnergy employees have returned from the Gulf Coast and are working to restore service as quickly as possible, according to a FirstEnergy press release.

Hundreds of repairs still need to be completed and those repairs are labor intensive. Crews are getting down to circuits that serve fewer customers, but those circuits still require the same amount of work, Harkey said.

“There are always going to be stragglers in a massive storm like this,” he said.

Cheryl DeBow of New Middletown has been without power and water since Sunday and doesn’t want to be one of the stragglers Harkey is talking about.

“It’s like every day I keep hoping it will come on,” said DeBow of her electricity.

DeBow uses well water, so when the electric is out, her water is, too.

On Monday, DeBow spent $50 on a hair cut just so she could get her hair washed. The stylist told DeBow to come back if her power didn’t come on and they’d wash it for free — DeBow took the stylist up on the offer Wednesday.

After going through more than 50 tea light candles and not being able to shower at home, DeBow said she thought about getting a hotel room, but decided to hold out a couple more days.

Others in the area did check into hotels and Shelley Stevens, general manager of the Comfort Inn Suites in Austintown said she still has people staying in rooms because of loss of power.

A customer from North Jackson checked in Monday night because he has well water, said Stevens.

“It wasn’t a huge amount, but it could be more than I know,” said Stevens of the number of guests who checked in because they didn’t have electric.

Rather than checking into a hotel, Pam Beatty of Enon Valley, Pa., has relied on the facilities of neighbors and friends since losing power on Sunday.

“What’s crazy is my neighbors have it [electricity],” said Beatty of the house behind her house.

Columbiana County has about $66,000 to help the needy who lost food or had home damage during last weekend’s wind storm.

Part of the money is available to groups that assist the needy who may have lost food during the power outages.

Eileen Dray-Bardon, the director of the Columbiana County Department of Job and Family Services, told the county commissioners Wednesday the most important part of the relief will be to make sure people have enough to eat right now.

Dray-Bardon said people should apply as soon as possible. The funding, for now, is set to end Oct. 17.

People may either apply at the DJFS office in Lisbon from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays, or at the agency’s office in East Liverpool during the same hours Tuesday through Thursday.

Food assistant groups have 10 days from their loss to seek reimbursement.

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland sent a letter today to President George W. Bush requesting federal aid to assist the state’s recovery efforts in the aftermath of the major wind storm that swept through Ohio Sunday, caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ike.

Others in Lawrence County, like Beatty, will wait out their time without electricity, but can get help from the county.

The Lawrence County department of public safety is giving out water for drinking and cooking and also for washing at fire stations throughout the county, said Brian Melcer, director of the county department of public safety. Fire departments began to give out water Tuesday, while about 16,000 people were without electricity.

The need was not as great Wednesday, with only 5,000 people left with no power, Melcer said.

Melcer said tanks of drinking water were brought from Allegheny County. Only two of six tanks were set up — one at the fire station on Evergreen Road in New Bedford and one at the North Beaver station on Pa. Route 108 in Mount Jackson.

Melcer said other stations set up their own tankers and provided nonpotable water. The department of public safety distributed bottled drinking water to fire stations throughout the county that requested it for residents, and provided generators to nursing homes and people who need breathing machines, he said.

Some residents were able to go to fire stations with municipal water supplies and fill up their own jugs, he said.

People who still need water should contact their fire stations.