Crews were working Monday to repair damage and restore power after severe weather rolled through Northeast Ohio over the weekend. High winds toppled utility poles, knocked down construction and left a mess in their wake.
The storm extended spring break for students at the University of Mount Union. The college announced Monday classes were canceled on Monday because of a campus power outage.
“I was planning to come back Sunday afternoon, but I came back today instead,” said Mount Union freshman Olivia Turner.
School administrators said the weather snapped a primary electrical pole near campus early Sunday morning. FirstEnergy crews quickly replaced the damaged pole, but the school needed to fix related issues that affected its system.
Turner explained the electronic key entry to her dorm building still wasn’t working Monday afternoon.
“I had to text my sister or some friends to let me in because the power’s out,” she said.
FirstEnergy said as many as 68,000 Northeast Ohio customers were without power over the weekend. In some areas, strong winds downed trees and branches onto power lines. In Brunswick, they toppled more than a dozen utility poles.
Crews were working Sunday and Monday to replace the damaged equipment and restore power. The company said it was monitoring the weather ahead of time and was prepared to respond quickly.
“We made preparations to make sure we had the crews ready to go, should they be needed. And we were able to get them to the places where they were needed as quickly as possible when the weather hit,” explained FirstEnergy spokesperson Hannah Catlett.
Power wasn’t the only storm-related problem from over the weekend.
“We did have some very high winds here yesterday,” said Andrew Turowski, the Louisville interim city manager.
The storms damaged an ongoing construction project in the city. Work has been underway for the past year to build an $8.6 million fire station to replace an aging facility the city has outgrown.
“The idea is that they would’ve moved in there by the end of September this year. We’re not certain yet at this point how much or if that truss incident will cause a delay,” explained Turowski.
He explained construction can continue on other parts of the building while contractors and insurance adjusters survey the damage and determine a timeline for repairs.
Mount Union said classes will resume as scheduled at the university on Tuesday.
“I was very happy we didn’t have classes, to be honest – a nice, longer break,” laughed Turner.
FirstEnergy said the majority of customers had power back by Monday afternoon. A spokesperson encouraged anyone who sees damaged power lines or is experiencing power loss to contact their provider.
