Strong winds down trees, knock power out to tens of thousands of Akron area residents
Strong winds that swept across Northeast Ohio on Saturday left a trail of downed power lines, toppled trees and power outages throughout the greater Akron area.
FirstEnergy reported tens of thousands of its customers in Summit, Medina, Portage and Stark counties were without power Saturday afternoon.
Stow was hit particularly hard, with Graham Road between Route 91 and Route 8 closed for downed power lines near an Edgewood Road substation.
Mayor John Pribonic said all city police and fire crews were responding to trees and power lines downed by the powerful winds. They were joined by FirstEnergy crews battling outages across the region and state.
"This is clear across our whole city," the mayor said in a phone interview. "The retail area by Kent Road — Giant Eagle, Target… — totally out. Areas off of Steels Corners are out."
About one-fourth of FE's customers in Stow were without power at 3:30 p.m., the company reported.
"All I ask for right now is for people to be patient," the mayor said.
Wind gusts in Akron, prediction of hail and thunderstorms
The National Weather Service reported strong winds gusting at one point to 56 mph in Akron.
The weather service had issued a wind advisory in the hours before winds picked up and added a hazardous weather advisory for the counties at noon on Saturday. The wind advisory was extended to 8 p.m. Saturday.
By 2 p.m., FirstEnergy was reporting 17,891 customers were without power in Summit County, about 8% of the company's 225,679 customers. On the company's online power outage map, FirstEnergy attributed most of the power outages in Summit County to severe weather.
Some communities hit harder than others
Akron was hardest hit, with more than 4,700 customers losing power, or 5.1%. Nearly all FE customers in Silver Lake — 1,093 of 1,095 — were affected. Stow, 3,407 were affected; Bath Township, 2,493; and Sagamore Hills, 1,403.
In Stark County, Massillon and Perry Township were hit hardest, with both communities posting nearly 5,000 customers without power at 2 p.m.
In Stark County, Massillon and Perry Township were hit hardest, with both communities posting nearly 5,000 customers without power at 2 p.m.
Randolph Township took the biggest hit in Portage County, with 2,077 customers powerless, or 91.5%. Brunswick and Granger Township were the hardest hit in Medina County.
Thunderstorms, hail and more damaging winds
A severe thunderstorm watch was issued until 6 p.m., with severe storms, large hail and damaging winds possible.
The weather service warned drivers to be wary and residents to secure objects outside their homes.
Pribonic posted on his Facebook page about 1:30 p.m. that Graham Road had been closed from state Route 91 to state Route 8. He also posted photos of power lines running across an unidentified road and a snapped power line pole.
"Please be careful if you are out and about!!!" the mayor posted. "We have a very large number of power lines down and traffic signals that are not functioning!!!"
In West Akron, a pine tree near Our Lady of the Elms fell across telephone transmission lines on West Market Street near Twin Oaks Road. Power was out at Georgetown Condominiums, and a fallen tree had caused damage to the back patio of one of the condos.
In Portage County, some power customers reported outages in the same areas of Rootstown, Edinburg and Charlestown that were impacted by storms last week.
The Kent area appeared to be heavily hit, with more than 50 outages scattered throughout the area.
A downed tree crossing Judson Road was spotted between Seasons and Hudson roads. A motorist said she was unable to reach 911 to report downed wires she spotted on Lake Rockwell Road.
Leave a message for Alan Ashworth at 330-996-3859 or email him at aashworth@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @newsalanbeaconj. Record-Courier reporter Diane Smith also contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Strong winds down trees, knock power out to tens of thousands in area
