Thousands of Knox County residents still powerless 2 days after storm

MOUNT VERNON — Thousands of Knox County residents woke up in the dark Thursday for the third day in a row, as electricity remains scarce following Monday night’s storm.

Online outage maps and recent statements from Knox County’s four main electrical providers – American Electric Power, The Energy Cooperative, Ohio Edison (FirstEnergy) and Consolidated Electric Co-Op – indicate that approximately 7,000 customers remained without power at sunrise Thursday.

The storm, which produced Knox County’s first confirmed tornado since 2006, caused more than 20,000 local customers to lose power Monday night.

Residents and repairmen have had to grapple with searing heat and humidity in the days since, as temperatures reached the mid-90s on Tuesday and Wednesday and are expected to reach the upper-80s on Thursday.

Here’s where things stand with each of the county’s major electrical providers, as of Thursday morning:

American Electric Power

There were 5,052 American Electric Power customers in Knox County still without power at sunrise Thursday, according to the company’s online outage map. This is down from 10,089 at sunrise Wednesday and 15,292 at sunrise Tuesday.

Most of the remaining AEP outage clusters exist in and around Mount Vernon, with smaller clusters in Fredericktown, Howard/Apple Valley, Danville and Gambier. Centerburg appears to have regained most of its power, at least among AEP customers.

AEP, Ohio’s largest electrical provider, still faces 33,128 customer outages statewide. This is down from 155,000 outages early Tuesday morning. Many of the remaining outages in Knox County are slated to last until midnight Friday, according to the company’s website.

The Energy Cooperative

There were 1,456 The Electric Cooperative customers in Knox County still without power at sunrise Thursday, according to the company’s online outage map. This is down from 2,918 at sunrise Wednesday and 5,188 at sunrise Tuesday.

Most of the remaining TEC outage clusters exist in the northern and eastern parts of the county. Fredericktown, Amity and Howard/Apple Valley remain hard-hit, as well as Danville, Gambier and parts of southeastern Knox County. Mount Vernon, Centerburg and most of the western part of the county appear spared.

The Energy Cooperative, a provider with nearly 70,000 customers across central Ohio, still faces 2,382 customer outages total. This is down from nearly 11,000 outages early Tuesday morning. Many of the outages are expected to last until Thursday afternoon or Friday.

The company provided an update on Facebook Wednesday, detailing estimated repair times for the following substations:

Apple Valley – Thursday at noon
Bladensburg – Thursday at 11 p.m.
Brandon – Wednesday at 9 p.m.
Flint Ridge – Thursday at noon
Hazelton – Thursday at 3 p.m.
Hebron – Thursday at 3 p.m.
Highwater – Thursday at noon
Hickman – Thursday at 11 p.m.
Jacksontown – Thursday at noon
Jelloway – Friday at noon
Johnstown – Thursday at noon
Loudonville – Friday at noon
Martinsburg – Thursday at 3 p.m.
Mount Vernon – Friday at noon
Northridge – Thursday at noon
Palmyra – Wednesday at 6 p.m.
Reform – Thursday at 10 a.m.
Smiths Mill – Thursday at 3 p.m.
St. Louisville – Thursday at 3 p.m.
Welsh Hills – Thursday at noon

The company explained this timing in an additional Facebook post late Wednesday evening:

“The Energy Cooperative crews made good progress again today, despite the extreme heat,” the company stated. “We continue to struggle in the Loudonville, Jelloway and Mount Vernon substation areas simply because of the damage and debris.

“Multiple crews worked each of these areas today and thankfully the AEP transmission feed to Loudonville was restored late this afternoon. We are hopeful that tomorrow will yield good results in these areas as we plan to again use multiple crews.

“Additional crews will continue to work smaller outages to help knock out or clean up some of the other substations. We added three more crews from Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives today to give us more help with the restorations.

“Tomorrow morning, we will assess our restoration times again and provide any revised estimates. Please remember these are estimates based on the conditions currently and many times once on site, jobs become more difficult and take longer than excepted. We appreciate the support from the members through this challenging event.”

Ohio Edison (FirstEnergy)

There were 182 Ohio Edison customers in Knox County still without power at sunrise Thursday, according to the company’s website. This is down from 405 at sunrise Wednesday, and the same number at sunrise Tuesday.

Most of the remaining Ohio Edison outage clusters exist in the northern part of the county, between Fredericktown and Butler. The rest of the county – including Mount Vernon, Danville, Gambier, Centerburg and Howard/Apple Valley – appears spared.

Ohio Edison, which serves more than 1 million customers in northeast and north central Ohio through its parent company, FirstEnergy, still faces thousands of outages in its coverage area (the exact number is unclear, as FirstEnergy’s outage map only includes the total number of customer outages in Ohio, which was 13,728 as of Thursday morning).

The company told Richland Source on Tuesday that, “worst-case scenario,” all of its customers in north central Ohio will regain power by Thursday night.

Most will have power before then, the company said.

Consolidated Electric Co-Op

There were hundreds of Consolidated Electric Co-Op customers in Knox County still without power at sunrise Thursday, according to the company’s online outage map. The exact number was unclear, as county-by-county figures are not listed on the company’s website.

Most of the remaining Consolidated Electric Co-Op outage clusters exist on the western side of the county – including parts of Mount Vernon, Fredericktown and Centerburg. The eastern portion of the county – including parts of Mount Vernon, Howard/Apple Valley, Gambier and Danville – appears spared.

Consolidated Electric Co-Op, which serves nearly 16,000 customers across eight counties in north central Ohio, still faces 1,282 outages total, according to a Facebook post written by the company Thursday morning. This is down from 9,691 outages early Tuesday morning.

Many of the remaining outages will last into Friday, the company said in its Facebook post Thursday. It did not provide a specific timeline for when power might return to Knox County customers.

“Last night, transmission was restored to our remaining substations, enabling us to restore power to many members in a short period of time,” the company stated.

“Our crews were up bright and early this morning to continue the restoration process. We are experiencing more broken poles than expected, which can slow down our restoration process significantly. However, we have more outside crews on their way to help us keep moving forward.

“Currently, we know that restoration will not be complete before Friday. However, we are aware that the storms predicted for this afternoon could create problems that interfere with our efforts and add to our outages.

“We will keep you updated as we continue to progress and track the weather. Please stay tuned. Thank you for your continued patience and understanding.”

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