About 800 line, tree, contractor and support personnel restored more than 28,000 customers across the service territory today after strong winds knocked down lines and broke poles and crossarms. As of 8 p.m., approximately 14,000 customers remain without power.

At the height of the wind storm, more than 42,000 customers were affected. In some areas, sustained winds of more than 30 miles per hour, and gusts of more than 60 mph, hampered restoration efforts at times until winds subsided to safe levels. 

“As families and friends gather to celebrate Thanksgiving, we know a power outage is disruptive to your holiday plans,” said Tom Kratt, AEP Ohio Vice President, Distribution Operations. “Our lineworkers will keep working until everyone has power. We thank our customers for their understanding and our employees for their dedication to getting the lights back on.”

Power outages and downed lines can be reported on the AEP Ohio mobile app and AEPOhio.com.

ESTIMATED RESTORATION TIMES (ETRs)

Pending further weather issues, estimated restoration times have been established as follows:

• Athens: 11/28 - Noon
• Belmont: 11/28 – 6 p.m.
• Bucyrus: 11/27 – 10 p.m.
• Carrolton: 11/28 – 8 p.m.
• Chillicothe: 11/28 – 3 p.m.
• Columbus Northeast: 11/27 – 11 p.m.
• Columbus Southwest: 11/28 – 11:59 p.m.
• Coshocton: 11/28 – 4 p.m.
• Crooksville: 11/28 – 4 p.m.
• Lancaster: 11/28 – 2 p.m.
• Lima: 11/28 – Noon 
• Marietta: 11/28 – Noon
• McConnelsville: 11/28 – Noon  
• Mt Vernon: 11/28 – 3:30 p.m.
• New Philadelphia: 11/28 – 11:59 p.m.  
• Newark: 11/28 – 2 p.m.
• Pomeroy: 11/28 – 4 p.m.
• South Point: 11/28 – 3 p.m.
• Steubenville: 11/28 – 11:59 p.m.
• Van Wert: 11/28 – 11:59 p.m.  
• Wellston: 11/28 – 3 p.m.
• Zanesville: 11/28 – 4 p.m.

SAFETY INFO

Please be aware of potential hazards:

• Downed power lines. Stay away from any downed wires and report them to AEP Ohio on our mobile app, AEPOhio.com, or call 911 or AEP Ohio at 800-672-2231.
• Limbs, leaves and objects moved by the wind could hide downed wires. Investigate your surroundings before trying to clean up any debris.
• Watch for utility workers and first responders at the side of the road and slow down near any work areas.
• Trees damaged by wind could fall or drop limbs; AEP Ohio encourages everyone to look up and stay out of the line of fire.
• Traffic lights may not be functioning. Treat all such intersections as four way stops.

STAY INFORMED

Customers are encouraged to use the AEP Ohio app to monitor the status of outages.

See the location and status of outages using our outage map at AEPOhio.com/OutageMap

For the latest updates follow AEP Ohio on Facebook and find us on Twitter @AEPOhio

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About AEP Ohio

AEP Ohio is based in Gahanna, Ohio, and is a unit of American Electric Power. AEP Ohio provides electricity to nearly 1.5 million customers. News and information about AEP Ohio can be found at AEPOhio.com.

American Electric Power, based in Columbus, Ohio, is focused on building a smarter energy infrastructure and delivering new technologies and custom energy solutions to our customers. AEP’s more than 18,000 employees operate and maintain the nation’s largest electricity transmission system and more than 219,000 miles of distribution lines to efficiently deliver safe, reliable power to nearly 5.4 million regulated customers in 11 states. AEP also is one of the nation’s largest electricity producers with approximately 32,000 megawatts of diverse generating capacity, including about 5,200 megawatts of renewable generation. AEP’s family of companies includes utilities AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana and east Texas). AEP also owns AEP Energy, AEP Energy Partners, AEP OnSite Partners, and AEP Renewables, which provide innovative competitive energy solutions nationwide.