CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – More than 8,000 First Energy customers are powerless Sunday morning as windy conditions are expected to continue into the afternoon for many Northeast Ohio counties.

As of 8:30 a.m., FirstEnergy’s website says more than 8,000 customers are without power. Cleveland Public Power is reporting widespread outages and AEP is reporting over 1,000.

Click your power company link above for the latest outage information.

According to their websites, crews are on the way to make repairs.

Ashland, Erie, Holmes, Huron, Lorain, Media, Richland, Wayne, Ashtabula, Geauga, Lake, Cuyahoga, Portage, Stark and Summit counties are all under wind advisories until 2 p.m. In these counties, winds could gust up to 50 mph

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CLEVELAND — Every year, the Cleveland Orchestra leaves Severance Hall, hitting the road to perform in places like New York, Florida and even overseas, but to make that possible, they must pack up the instruments and equipment of more than 100 musicians.

Stage manager Joe Short said his team handles the plan to get everything from point A to point B safely. 

“My team and I will be responsible for two well-packed, 53 foot, temperature-controlled trucks,” Short said. “Temperature controlled because of the old and delicate instruments, so we’re watching temperature and humidity.”

While the Orchestra has done three week tours in Europe and Asia, right now, Short said they’re prepping for what he calls a “run-out” to New York City, where they’ll spend two nights performing in the legendary Carnegie Hall. 

“It’s as big a deal to an American orchestra as one would think it is to play at Carnegie Hall,” he said. “There’s quite a bit of anticipation, quite a bit of excitement. No matter how often we go, and we go every year, it’s still very exciting for myself, my crew and the musicians when we walk through the door and onstage at Carnegie Hall.”

Short said about 10 to 15 orchestra staffers, depending on the length and distance of the trip, work to ensure everything in the travel process runs smoothly, so the musicians can just focus on their performance. 

In the days and weeks before a trip, instrument and equipment cases line the hallways of Severance Hall. Then, on the day of departure, Short and his crew will load it all into temperature-controlled trucks before meeting them in NYC that afternoon.

“It’s a little bit harder to load into New York than it is in some other American cities because of the lack of loading docks, because of the lack of real estate,” he said. “So it’ll take about three hours from start to finish, about an hour and a half to unload the instruments, and then about an hour and a half to get everything in the right place, get everything unpacked and get the stage set.”

From there, his crew grabs a quick dinner before the orchestra starts their rehearsal, and the show eventually begins. Then they’ll tear down and reset the stage for their next performance, and pack it all up to come back to Cleveland again.

For trips overseas, Short said they have to bring all the equipment to Chicago’s O’Hare Airport or JFK in New York, and fly it all out on a large cargo flight because Cleveland’s aren’t large enough to support their needs.

It’s a lot of logistics and work, Short said, but worth the experience for the musicians and to uplift the city of Cleveland around the world.

“We’re very proud to share the Cleveland Orchestra with cities who otherwise may not have an opportunity to ever hear of the city of Cleveland,” he said.

And, he added, none of this would be possible without the help of another Orchestra administrator.

“It would not be possible without Rebecca Vineyard, who’s the director of touring and operations, who is in charge of all of this,” he said. “She’s in charge of the trucks. She’s in charge of the hotels. She’s in charge of the flight. She’s in charge of the water backstage. She’s literally in charge of everything the Cleveland Orchestra does on tour, and she is our hero. And none of us could do it without her.”

The Cleveland Orchestra is performing in Carnegie Hall on March 18 and 19 before coming home to finish out the season. 

SUFFIELD TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Multiple police and civilian agencies responded to a deadly helicopter crash at the Mogadore Reservoir in Portage County Friday morning.

Authorities updated the press at noon with additional details:

Authorities provide new details on Portage County helicopter crash

Suffield Township Fire Chief Bob Rasnick said his department was notified about the crash at 7:11 a.m.

The fire department contacted the Portage County Water Rescue Team, Hazmat crews, the Portage County Emergency Management Agency, the sheriff’s office, and the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

Rasnick called the situation a “recovery mission” at this point.

“We have recovered one body. We’re looking to make absolutely sure there’s not anyone else in the area,” Rasnick said.

During a noon update, Rasnick said the body was that of the pilot, 52-year-old Anthony Jones, of North Royalton. He was flying out of Medina. First responders do not believe anyone else was aboard.

The helicopter was found 22 feet under water. Recovery of the helicopter will take several days.

According to the FAA, the aircraft was a Schweizer 269C helicopter.

Watch Chief Rasnick’s update to the press Friday morning:

Body recovered following helicopter crash into Mogadore Reservoir

Rasnick said witnesses in a boat saw the helicopter fly into an Ohio Edison high-tension wire and crash into the water.

The reservoir is not a drinking water supply, so there is no concern about drinking water contamination. It was initially used to help cool the factories in Akron, and it is currently used for recreation.

“We conducted a dive rescue operation … There was some leakage from the helicopter, so the Hazmat team —the EPA is here as well — we have isolated and boomed the area to protect the water in this area so there’s no danger of it running off and killing wildlife,” Rasnick said. “We’ve mitigated that situation as well.”

Local authorities are waiting on the NTSB and the FAA to arrive. The scene will be turned over to those federal agencies.

The Water Rescue Team has a device that scans under the water, Rasnick said, and it detected something and is working to ensure it’s not someone else.

“We don’t believe that it is,” he said. “Not sure; we are going to make sure.”

Ohio Edison also responded to the scene to remove the top static wire, which doesn’t carry power. That line fell on other power wires but has been safely taken care of. Ohio Edison crews are doing additional grounding work on nearby towers to ensure everything in the area is safe, Rasnick said.