More than 250,000 Northeast Ohioans remain without power following Tuesday's storms, and some could be in the dark until next week.
Residents on Cleveland's West and East Sides have received text message updates from the Illuminating Company estimating that their power may not be restored until Wednesday, Aug. 14.
"That is our estimated time of restoration for Illuminating Company customers," said Hannah Catlett, a FirstEnergy spokesperson. "Now, a lot of them are going to be back on much before then, but that is our overall time that we've set."
This week's number of outages hadn't been seen in decades, according to Catlett.
"This is a historic storm for us," she said. "We've started to dive into the numbers today, and the last time that we saw numbers close to this was in 1993, so it has been 30 years since we've seen the amount of outages that we saw with this storm."
FirstEnergy crews were out overnight working to restore power to more than 200,000 customers, but more than 250,000 are still waiting, Catlett said, adding that 9,700 Ohio Edison customers are also without service.
There were 260,823 outages as of noon Thursday, according to FirstEnergy's outage map.
Meanwhile, Cleveland Public Power said Thursday it restored power to 23,335 customers while 11,012 remained out of service.
"We are committed to restoring the majority of CPP customers before the weekend," CPP said.
FirstEnergy has requested support from thousands of contractors, who are expected to arrive Thursday, Catlett noted.
"We're setting up some staging areas where they're able to get started and get their work orders, so that they can help us with that effort," she said.
Some contractors typically used by the Illuminating Company to help during widespread outages may not be available this week, due to need for their work as Tropical Storm Debby pounds the Carolinas. FirstEnergy line workers were not sent to assist, Catlett said.
FirstEnergy's response to restore power was not slower than usual, Catlett said, noting that the storm left hazardous conditions that must be cleared before line workers can start, like closed roads and downed trees. There are also 300 broken poles that will need to be replaced, she added.
"There is just so much damage that it will take the time to clean it up," she said.
Centers will open for Cleveland residents to charge devices, receive water and a meal at these locations, according to MetroHealth:
Aug. 8:
Iglesia Nueva Vida
2337 Holmden Ave, Cleveland, OH 44109
Cleveland Lonnie Burten Center
2511 E. 46th St., Cleveland, OH 44104
Friendly Inn
2386 Unwin Road, Cleveland, OH 44104
Aug. 9:
Zelma Watson George Roller Skating Facility
3155 Martin Luther King Jr. Dr., Cleveland, OH 44104
Collinwood Recreation Center
16300 Lake Shore Blvd., Cleveland, OH 44110
Lakewood hit hard
Areas of Lakewood were hit hard Tuesday, forcing some residents to local coffee shops for hospitality, while others relied on their cars and a local community hub.
Marty Step was cooling off and charging his phone in his Honda Civic parked in his driveway. The Lakewood resident has been without power since Tuesday and said he was "bored out of his mind" as he played a game on a tablet. He already lost all the food in his fridge, so he has been relying on fast food and coffee shops for most meals.
"We're at the mercy of the companies that are dealing with the power, and I know some of those guys and they're working around the clock," Step said. "I just don't think they were prepared for it."
To offer some relief, the City of Lakewood is partnering with the Red Cross to open a community hub at Hayes Elementary School. Residents can come inside, charge their devices, get snacks and cool off. Police, fire, emergency medical transport, and human services are on site to help.
Among dozens inside on Thursday was 71-year-old James Kevern. He uses a motorized wheelchair, which takes eight hours to charge.
"So yeah, this is my day," he said, adding he'll be using the wheelchair as little as possible to conserve power. "I'm just going to be trying to use it to go from the bedroom to the bathroom to outside. That's it. I'm not going to be able to go out, so I lose out on my going to the Browns game. Oh, but that's OK. I'd rather be able to go to the bathroom."
The Illuminating Company's Critical Care Program works with customers who use certain electrically-operated life sustaining medical equipment in their home. The program helps customers for whom a service interruption could be immediately life-threatening or would make operation of necessary medical or life-supporting equipment impossible or impractical, prepare for planned and unplanned power outages.
Kevern cleared out his refrigerator earlier Wednesday. He said while it's unfortunate to lose the food, he's more concerned about his insulin that may be at risk.
Trinity Villar, who was also charging her phone at Hayes Elementary, had the same concern. A Type 1 diabetic, she is at risk of losing $3,000 worth of insulin she said she cannot afford to replace.
"People are making posts about, 'OK, calm down, everybody's going to get power back.' But I don't think they think about those of us who need the power for our health," Villar said. "I need my insulin to live. Kind of important, but I'm doing what I can."
Fortunately, she said, she met Andrea Tax, another resident charging her devices at the same table, who offered to bring her ice to help preserve the medication.
"That's a nice thing about the community here," Tax said. "I think that in times of need, everybody pulls together."
Other residents had to find places to plug in for work.
"No cell phones, no internet, and we've got nothing back yet," said Sara Cleary, who lost internet at her Lakewood home.
Cleary said the situation impacted her ability to work from home, especially since she works for a Chicago-based company that wasn't hit by the storms. She drove to Cuyahoga Falls to find a café to work from Wednesday and ended up at Gypsy Beans in Cleveland's Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood Thursday.
"I just have to kind of find somewhere that has WiFi to be able to work," added Katie Bugos, also a Lakewood resident who works remotely.
Meanwhile, she's hoping she won't be one of the customers left waiting until Wednesday for power.
"I think it'll come on before that, but I think I'm in denial," she said.
Keeping pets cool in Parma
Parma residents were also told they may not see power until Wednesday, leaving them to look out for their pets while trying to beat the heat.
Nancy Vincon said she's not too fazed by the prolonged power outage, but she does have three dogs that she's trying to keep cool with battery-powered fans in the 80-degree weather.
"Yeah they're kind of hot, but we have fans, and we put them on them and try to keep them cool," Vincon said.
For now, Vincon is staying put. She's ordering takeout to eat after everything in her fridge was lost, but said the heat might drive her to a hotel.
"If it gets really really hot, we probably will, but right now, the house stays pretty cool, as long as the sun doesn't come out," she said.
Brett Hopkins said he and his wife are getting creative cooking without electricity.
"We cooked pasta on the grill, boiled water that way, peanut butter and jelly, lunch meats, prepared foods as much as we can, which is out of our norm," he said.
Hopkins and his wife are currently fostering a dog, Rue, who he said joins another pup and two cats they're keeping cool.
"Both my wife and I work from home, so I can't work right now," he said. "She's at the library right now working, so it doesn't change anything for them. If anything, they're getting more attention."
