Storms on Tuesday evening, Aug. 19 caused power outages in Richland County and some surrounding areas, as well as northeastern Ohio. The heavy rain deposited trees and debris on property and roadways. Some Bellville and Butler residents lost power after 9 p.m., and many reported power restored by approximately 2 a.m. on Wednesday. More heavy rain is expected in Ohio.
A transformer located south of Scott Road on Washington South Road was possibly struck by lightning. According to the Washington Township Fire Department, a homeowner called at 9:10 p.m. on Tuesday. OhioEdison was notified and estimated a two-hour arrival. The fire department monitored the situation, but OhioEdison arrived in 45 minutes and the power was disconnected. The fire department report noted that the fire nested in the transformer’s rods.
According to OhioEdison Representative Chris Eck, the storm began at 8 p.m. and initially approximately 2,100 customers lost power due to various storm-related events including lightening and a tree on a transformer.
There were at least 30 Richland County customers without power at 4 a.m. on Wednesday; by 9:30 a.m. that number shrunk to 16. By late morning, Eck was able to report, “We may have some incidental outages but power has largely been restored.”
OhioEdison is one of FirstEnergy’s operating companies. First Energy serves customers from Indiana to Pennsylvania and Ohio customers as far south as Springfield.
AEP Ohio reported as many as 3,105 customers in Knox County were without power at 7:30 a.m. this morning. AEP Community Affairs Manager Paul Prater reported that AEP serves customers in Bellville and Lexington and there were no reported outages for their Richland County customers. However, in Fredericktown and Gambier a transmission feed was out to a substation, possibly a result of lightening. Customers were still without power early this morning, but it was expected to be restored by 8:30 a.m.
According to the National Weather Service in Cleveland, additional thunderstorms today and tonight in northern Ohio may be strong with locally heavy rain, particularly east of I-71. Possibly heavy rainfall will continue into Friday and flooding could develop.
Update provided by FirstEnergy
