MOUNT VERNON — Knox County has fully regained electricity, one week after a violent summer storm ravaged the community.
According to online outage maps from Knox County’s four main electrical providers – American Electric Power, The Energy Cooperative, Ohio Edison (FirstEnergy) and Consolidated Electric Co-Op – all outages from the June 13 storm had been cleared as of Tuesday afternoon.
Thousands of local residents woke up powerless one week prior, following a storm that damaged countless properties and delivered Knox County’s first tornado since 2006.
There were more than 20,000 utility customers in Knox County without power at sunrise June 14 – including roughly 15,000 AEP customers, 5,000 TEC customers, 400 Ohio Edison customers and thousands of Consolidated Electric Co-Op customers (the exact number was unclear, as the company did not publish county-by-county outage totals).
Repair crews braved the searing heat and humidity (last week was Ohio’s hottest so far this year, with the heat index reaching 106 on Wednesday) to bring power back to Knox County.
The progress was steady throughout the week. By sunrise Wednesday, there were 15,000 customers still powerless. By sunrise Thursday, that number had dropped to 7,000 – and by sunrise Friday, that number had fallen to 4,000.
There were roughly 2,000 customers still without power Saturday morning (Consolidated Electric Co-Op had resolved all of its outages by this point). By sunrise Sunday, that number had fallen to 600.
Repair crews continued to work through the holiday weekend to fully restore Knox County’s power. By sunrise Monday, fewer than 100 customers remained without electricity – and by sunrise Tuesday, that number had dropped to single digits.
The Energy Cooperative, a provider with nearly 70,000 customers across central Ohio, thanked the region for its patience in a Facebook post late Monday. The company experienced nearly 11,000 outages total at the height of the storm.
“Thank you to our members for their understanding and support through this major event. This is not something we have seen since the Derecho in 2012 or the ice storm of 2004,” the post read.
“We appreciate all of the kind words, support and thank you’s that came in over the last week.”
AEP, Ohio’s largest electrical provider, offered a similar message to its customers late Monday night. The company faced 155,000 outages statewide the morning after the storm.
“Power was restored earlier this evening in the Wooster area to the final remaining customers out of service since last week’s storm,” the company said in a Facebook post. “We sincerely appreciate the kindness and patience of our customers for the support they gave our crews this past week. Thank you.”
Last week’s storm – which began before midnight Monday and continued until sunrise Tuesday – produced Knox County’s first confirmed tornado since 2006. It began in southeastern Morrow County late Monday night before moving into western Knox County, reaching wind speeds of 105 miles per hour before dissipating in Liberty Township (between Fredericktown and Mount Vernon).
No one died, and according to the National Weather Service, no one was seriously injured. But the storm left remarkable property damage in its wake – not only in the tornado’s path, but across Knox County. And it left a large portion of the county powerless during Ohio’s hottest week of the year to-date.
Several local organizations stepped up last week, opening their doors and serving as cooling centers during the crisis. They offered air conditioning, electricity and other services.
Temperatures began to drop as the weekend neared. They settled in the mid-70s Saturday and Sunday, following three straight days of 90-degree heat.
Cleanup efforts continue around Knox County, as branches and limbs and sometimes entire trees remain scattered across yards and public spaces. The process will likely take weeks, local officials indicate, given the amount of debris generated by the storm.
