Power outages from storm

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Power outages resulting from this week’s winter storm may continue for some First Energy customers through the weekend.

Chris Eck, a spokesman for First Energy, said the company will work to restore power throughout the weekend. Most customers will have their power restored by Sunday evening.

Columbiana County has been hit hardest by the outages, with 5,380 First Energy customers still without power as of 9 p.m. Friday.

Many customers were told not to expect their power to return until as late as Sunday.

By 3 p.m. Friday, Columbiana County was opening temporary warming shelters at fire stations and schools throughout the county.

The American Red Cross also opened an emergency shelter at 6 p.m. Friday for residents affected by an outage.

In East Palestine, 99 percent of the First Energy customers in the village were without power Friday afternoon.

There are outages in both Mahoning and Trumbull counties as well.

In Mahoning, 1,739 customers are affected, with the majority of outages in Youngstown and Springfield. According to First Energy’s outage map, those currently without power shouldn’t expect it to return until Sunday.

In Trumbull, 1,052 customers were affected, and also should expect restorations on Sunday, according to the outage map.

As of 5:30 p.m. Friday, service had been restored for 152,000 customers across First Energy’s service territory, which includes parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey. About 85,000 remained without power at that time.