A cadre of storms wrought havoc on Central Ohio this past weekend, leaving upwards of 24,000 residents without power and a swathe of debris in its wake. As reported by NBC4i, power restoration efforts have been underway, with the number of outages in Franklin County reduced to 6,476 by late Saturday night. The storms seemed to take a particular liking to the north and northeast sections of Columbus, with widespread service interruptions.
In the face of these disruptions, American Electric Power (AEP) Ohio responded with an online outage tool for tracking power restorations. ABC6 On Your Side noted that, by early yesterday evening, power was progressively being reinstated, cutting down the initial impact from over 20,000 outages to 17,405 in Franklin County. Residents near Worthington and north Columbus are experiencing the brunt of the outages.
The storms didn't just leave residents in the dark; they also littered neighborhoods with debris, downed power lines, and smashed trees. In an account provided to CW Columbus, Franklin County's own Nelda Walker described the whirlwind of destruction that turned her backyard into a scene of mayhem in mere moments.
"All of a sudden we heard this whistling," Walker recounted via CW Columbus. "Whistling came through real fast, trees fell down and it went away." She painted a vivid picture of her crushed fences and the grill that, only moments before the storm, she was preparing dinner on, now obliterated. Walker expressed relief at being fortunate enough to retain power, highlighting the storm's arbitrary cruelty – while her property bore severe damage, the winds only brushed a solitary limb against the power line, fortunately causing her no service disruption. Amidst the chaos, AEP has been vocal, urging citizens to report outages and keep a safe distance from downed lines.
