Hundreds of thousands still without power in Northeast Ohio after intense storms; debris closes roads

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Hundreds of thousands of residents in Northeast Ohio woke up this morning still without electricity after intense thunderstorms Tuesday afternoon knocked out power throughout the area.

At 7:34 p.m. Tuesday, about 423,000 FirstEnergy customers were without power. There still were more than 327,000 outages early Wednesday morning, with nearly 200,000 in Cuyahoga County alone.

Lorain County had more than 24,000 outages, Lake County nearly 50,000, and Geauga County had nearly 25,000 outages, according to the FirstEnergy website.

Summit County fared better, with nearly 4,700 outages, while Trumbull County had nearly 8,900. Medina County had only 152 outages reported.

Tuesday’s storms produced several tornado warnings and had a top wind gust of 86 mph in Cleveland near Burke Lakefront Airport, the National Weather Service says. Wind monitors also recorded a wind gusts of 74 mph at Fairport Harbor and 67 mph in Cleveland near Edgewater Park.

Trees and power lines were toppled throughout the area, with police departments in the region saying multiple roads were blocked by debris or high water. Traffic lights also were not working in multiple cities.

In Geauga County, a section of Ohio 322 between Heath and Butternut roads was closed because of debris, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation.

A section of U.S. 6 near Ohio 45 in Ashtabula County also was closed early Wednesday morning. A large portion of Ohio 88 north of Garrettsville reportedly was closed because of debris, ODOT’s website shows.

The terminal at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport experienced sporadic power outages Tuesday afternoon over about a 90-minute period, according to airport spokeswoman Michele Dynia. Power was back on for good by around 6 p.m., she said.