Nearly 5k customers without power as winds calm in Greater Cincinnati

Nearly 5,000 Duke Energy customers are without power in the Cincinnati area Thursday afternoon as strong winds strong winds that swept through the region begin to calm down, according to the company's online outage map.

As of 7:03 p.m., the majority of those customers, 3,410, were located in Clermont and Hamilton counties. Strong winds Thursday afternoon brought widespread power outages, with more than 15,000 customers in southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky losing power.

"Until these severe winds wane, the pace of outage restoration may be hampered in areas where line repairs require the use of hydraulic bucket trucks," Duke Energy's website reads. "Once conditions improve, our crews will be working around the clock to get all service restored."

The University of Cincinnati's Blue Ash College was forced to close Thursday evening due to a power outage, the university's department of public safety said in a tweet.

Greater Cincinnati was under a high wind warning until 7 p.m., according to the National Weather Service in Wilmington, Ohio. It has since been lifted.

The weather service says wind gusts of up to 35-45 mph will continue into the evening and drivers are urged to be cautious on the road.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Nearly 5k customers without power as strong winds subside in Cincinnati