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Region cleans up from winds |
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Friday, 13 February 2009 |
By MIKE
BURKHOLDER
Managing Editor
ST. MARYS — While the electric grid in the city of St. Marys escaped with only minor damage, some area residents could be without power until midnight Saturday.
A wind storm swept into the region Wednesday night, with winds reaching close to 70 mph. Limbs, trees and shingles were strewn across the ground as city crews worked to clean up some of the debris from the storm.
“There were some property owners who had trees that went down last night,” General Services Superintendent Dennis Craft said Thursday. “We have been out picking up limbs on the streets and there were some reports out at West Oaks with some siding blowing off homes.”
Craft said residents who have branches and other yard debris should place it in the tree lawn near the road. Crews will pick up the debris in the coming days, Craft said.
Electric Superintendent Jerry Wolfe said the west circuit tripped twice Wednesday — once at 9:09 p.m. and the second time at 10:27 p.m. Wolfe said crews restored power in less than two hours.
“I am assuming it was a tree branch or limb contacting the lines,” Wolfe said. “No matter what it is, they still need to patrol the lines to make sure and that’s why it takes so long to restore power.”
AEP spokesperson Shelly Clark said the storm knocked out power to approximately 108,000 Ohioans.
Locally, the storm caused 354 residents on Buckland-Holden Road to be without power as well as 78 customers in the village of Cridersville.
“We have a pole that came down on Buckland-Holden Road and we are replacing it,” Clark said. “Inside Cridersville, it looks like a wire is down which caused the isolating device to open. That has been assessed but no crew is working on it yet. So right now, our best estimate is midnight tomorrow night (Friday night).”
Midwest Electric spokesperson Matt Berry said 1,500 customers were in the dark Wednesday night because of the high winds. As of Thursday afternoon, the number was down to approximately 300 scattered across the region.
“Most of the remaining customers without power are up near Lima,” Berry said Thursday. “We just have a handful around Moulton.”
Auglaize County EMA Director Troy Anderson said the front brought sustained winds of 20 to 35 mph with gusts between 45 and 50 mph. The storm felled trees and power lines across the county but the region escaped with less damage than a wind storm last fall.
“We had some minor river flooding,” Anderson said. “I chart the river and we determine how soon it will flood and where. Most of the rivers and creeks rose about 4 feet. It wasn’t too bad.”
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 17 February 2009 )
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