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Wicked winds wipe out power for days
(by Joan Demirjian - September 19, 2008)
Wicked winds wipe out power for days
By JOAN DEMIRJIAN
Chagrin Falls resident Richard Hutchinson returned home Sunday to find a giant scycamore tree in the middle of the second floor of his house at 511 N. Main St. "I was coming from out of town and found out about it at 11 p.m.," he said.
During the high winds that day which at times gusted to 65 mph, the tree crashed into the attic of his house and then into the second floor. It opened the whole width of the second floor, exposing a sitting room and powder room, Mr. Hutchinson said. No one was home when the tree struck, he said.
The tree that stood in a backyard ravine is very old, he said, yet it had never lost a limb before.
Mr. Hutchinson was able to have the tree cut down Monday and the roof was tarped until repairs can be made.
The high winds Sunday blasted the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co.'s service area between Avon and Ashtabula, leaving thousands without power.
School districts closed during the week included Chagrin Falls, Kenston, West Geauga, Ledgemont, St. Joan of Arc in Chagrin Falls, St. Anselm in Chester and the Metzenbaum Center in Chester.
As of Tuesday afternoon, no one could predict when the schools would open. "We don't know if it will be Friday or tomorrow (Wednesday)," said Katy McGrath, Kenston School District spokeswoman.
On Tuesday, CEI spokesman Mark Durbin said 125,000 customers were still without power, including thousands in the Chagrin Valley and Geauga County.
"Because of all the damage, it could be into the weekend before power is completely restored," he said. "It takes time to clear and access the situation and then to deal with the downed wires."
In Geauga County, the outages were whittled down from 30,000 to 10,000 by Tuesday, he said.
Mia Moore, CEI area manager, said power originally was expected to be restored to most customers by Wednesday, but then it was moved to this coming Sunday because of the sheer numbers of outages and the time needed to make the repairs.
Mutual-aid crews to help with restoration were called from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland.
Priorities include hospitals, safety centers and senior communities, according to CEI.
As of Tuesday, service had been restored to more than 700,000 customers in Ohio and Western Pennsylvania affected by the storm, according to First Energy Corp., of Akron, parent company of CEI. Crews were working to restore electricity to the remaining 300,000 customers. First Energy called back crews it had sent to help in the wake of Hurricane Ike in Texas.
Limited amounts of water and ice were being distributed through Giant Eagle stores in the areas of outages free of charge.
Hamlet Village, off Cleveland Street in Chagrin Falls, was operating with generators at its Atrium for assisted-living residents and at Hamlet Manner, its skilled-nursing facility.
Marc Benson, president of Hamlet Village, said they were without power since Sunday evening.
"We were told our power comes from the same transmission lines as Chagrin High School," he said. The high school on East Washington Street also was without power.
Fortunately, Mr. Benson said, Hamlet Village is in a special category, with Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co. giving it priority as to power restoration.
"And Chagrin Falls Village has been extremely supportive," he said with Police Chief James Brosius interceding on behalf of Hamlet. "The chief contacted people at CEI," he said.
"We maintain a five-day supply of food and water for residents," Mr. Benson said.
Russell Township resident Marlies Gibson is looking after her father and stepmother, who are in Hamlet's independent apartments. She said she was surprised that surrounding homes and businesses had electricity, but Hamlet did not.
She questioned why the apartments do not have generators so that residents can have warm water for baths and to make coffee. Some people don't have family nearby to help them, she said.
Residents in the independent-living apartments, which do not have generators, have access to the Atrium's dining room, and many spent their time there socializing, Mr. Benson said.
Hamlet staff members have been checking on those residents, he said. "It's inconvenient, but we are prepared for long outages," he said.
"The residents understand that this is a problem caused by Mother Nature," he said. "They are supportive and proactive. And one of the benefits is that we are staffed 24 hours."
Along with lines down throughout the village, a large tree pulled down wires at the home of Wendy Naylor on East Washington Street in Chagrin Falls, causing additional outages of service.
In addition, the 911 dispatch system went down at midnight on Sunday, and calls were transferred to Solon Police Department's dispatch service. It was restored at 4:40 a.m. Monday.
As an indication of the storm's effect on area residents, some stores and restaurants saw an influx of shoppers and diners.
Bainbridge Trustee Matthew Lynch, who was in the Arabica coffeehouse Monday, said the place was packed, and customers "were fighting over the computer plugs."
Lines for the drive-through window at the McDonald's restaurant on Chillicothe Road (Route 306) in Bainbridge were out to the road Monday morning. Mr. Lynch said he stopped there for breakfast. "I've never seen anything like it," he said of the crowds.
In Solon, there were no reports of property damage, other than branches and debris that had to be cleared from roads.
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