MOUNT VERNON — Thousands in Knox County woke up without electricity Tuesday, following an overnight storm that ravaged north central Ohio with high winds and torrential rainfall.
Numbers from Knox County’s four main electrical providers – AEP, The Energy Cooperative, Ohio Edison (FirstEnergy) and Consolidated Electric Co-Op – indicate more than 20,000 Knox County customers were without power at 6 a.m. Tuesday (for perspective, Mount Vernon has 16,684 residents and the county has 61,776 residents).
AEP, Ohio’s largest electrical provider, reported 15,292 Knox County customers were without power at sunrise. The Energy Cooperative, a provider with nearly 70,000 customers across central Ohio, reported 5,188 Knox County customers were powerless.
Ohio Edison, which serves more than 1 million customers in northeast and north central Ohio through its parent company, FirstEnergy, reported 405 customer outages in Knox County.
And Consolidated Electric Co-Op, which serves nearly 16,000 customers across eight counties in north central Ohio, reported 9,691 outages across its coverage area (the amount specifically in Knox County was not specified).
How does this stack up regionally?
Knox County and Richland County appear to have been hit hardest by Monday night’s summer storm.
Knox County led Ohio in AEP customer outages Tuesday morning. It also led the state in outages among The Energy Cooperative customers.
Richland County, meanwhile, led the state in FirstEnergy customer outages with 18,124. The county also reported 6,813 outages among AEP customers, 1,011 outages among The Energy Cooperative customers, and hundreds of outages among Consolidated Electric Co-Op customers.
This represents a total of more than 26,000 outages for the county of 121,043.
Licking County recorded 9,599 AEP customer outages overnight. The county also reported 3,777 outages among The Energy Cooperative customers (ranking second statewide) and hundreds of outages among Consolidated Electric Co-Op customers, representing a total of at least 13,300 outages for the county of 175,409.
Ashland County, at 53,533 strong, ranked second in the state in FirstEnergy customer outages with 10,524. The county also reported 238 outages among AEP customers and 615 outages among The Energy Cooperative customers, representing a total of at least 11,300 outages countywide.
Coshocton County had 6,933 AEP customer outages overnight. The county of 36,612 also reported 74 outages among The Energy Cooperative customers.
Holmes County, at 43,954 strong, had 5,494 AEP customer outages overnight. The county also reported 107 outages among FirstEnergy customers.
Morrow County recorded 983 AEP customer outages overnight. The county also saw 3,870 outages among FirstEnergy customers (ranking third in the state behind Richland and Ashland, respectively) and hundreds of outages among Consolidated Electric Co-Op customers, representing a total of at least 5,000 outages for the county of 35,148.
Delaware County, with a population of 205,454, had 752 AEP customer outages overnight. The county also recorded 15 outages among FirstEnergy customers and hundreds of outages among Consolidated Electric Co-Op customers, representing a total of at least 1,000 outages countywide.
Tuscarawas County had the second-highest number of AEP customers without power at 12,133. The county of 92,165 had zero outages among FirstEnergy customers.
Muskingum County ranked third statewide in AEP customer outages with 10,172. The county of 86,410 had 62 outages among The Energy Cooperative customers.
Statewide outage maps from AEP, FirstEnergy and other leading energy providers indicate Monday night’s storm touched nearly every corner of Ohio.
There were approximately 150,000 AEP customers, 83,000 Duke Energy customers (largely in southwest Ohio), 48,000 FirstEnergy customers and 10,000 AES customers (largely in west Ohio) without power early Tuesday, representing a total of at least 291,000 outages statewide.
An area firefighter told Richland Source on Tuesday morning she had not seen so many downed trees since the ice storm in 2005, a winter event that knocked out power for a week for many area residents.
Assessing the damage locally
Within Knox County, outages were reported from all corners. Maps indicate outages were reported in Mount Vernon, Howard/Apple Valley, Danville, Gambier, Centerburg and Fredericktown.
Trees and power lines were strewn across local streets early Tuesday, as houses and businesses remained dark. The hum of backup generators and service vehicles replaced that of the early-morning birds.
This is a developing story. Check back later for more information.
