Major Power Outage in Southern Ohio

Over one million people in Ohio and Northern Kentucky lost power today, Sept 14th, 2008. Southern Ohio experienced strong winds in what appears to be weather affected by Hurricane Ike and other coastal weather patterns. Tree limbs made contact with power lines and people, while whole trees were snapped off mid trunk or pulled out of the ground by the roots. Fire and rescue crews ran non stop for at least four hours, according to one Miami Valley firefighter who called home to warned his wife and children to not leave the house during the high winds. Several roads were closed due to limbs down, power lines in the roads, or accidents.

A majority of traffic lights were out and many remain so at this writing. Entire small towns lost electricity, including Yellow Springs which is still without electricity at this writing. Nearby Fairborn, which contains Wright Patterson Air Force Base and Wright State University, had power returned to portions of the town. The outer limits remained without power as of 3:30 AM. On drive through inspection by this reporter, it appeared that the east side of beavercreek, including the Fairfield Commons Mall, was entirely without power at around 2 am.

John Bryant State park had injuries when tree limbs fell on a hiker, according to Miami Township Fire Rescue, the local fire department in Yellow Springs. Earlier that day limbs fell on cyclists in another part of the state. One local woman, Beth T. described high winds that picked up as she attempted to make her way home from a nearby town. She said it was like a maze trying to leave the small town of Yellow Springs to get to her house in nearby Fairborn. "[My ex-husband] called me repeatedly to say, don't go down this road, its closed. Finally he was stuck at the Kroger's because his little car couldn't take [the winds] anymore."

Winds died down around 8pm, but it is estimated that portions of those currently experiencing power outage will not have power restored for 2-3 days. AEP ohio cautons that it could be up to seven. Duke energy reported over 800,000 power outages today, with 600,000 customers still without power. Most of them are located in Ohio. AEPohio reported over 300,000 customers who experienced power loss. The majority of them are still out as well.

The Fairborn Meijers had its power restored early on and experienced a run on ice and flashlights. "Every flashlight and LED in the light department was gone. The section was wiped." reported Beth T. "People were going crazy in there earlier today stocking up on supplies...Kroger's had its generator on, but after a while they just gave up and closed the store."

http://www.aepohio.com/news/outages/
http://www.duke-energy.com/ohio/outages/current.asp