SITUATION UPDATE

As weather allowed, crews continued the hard work overnight and into the morning of assessing damage and restoring electricity to customers after Hurricane Helene brought extreme winds and rain to central and southern Ohio. At the height of the event, approximately 83,000 customers were impacted. As of noon, approximately 43,500 customers remain without power.

More than 1,200 line, tree and support personnel have been tackling repairs since yesterday afternoon, with 130 additional lineworkers and assessors joining them this morning after returning from storm deployment in West Virginia and Virginia. Through our mutual assistance program, another 140 personnel will arrive tonight to support ongoing efforts.

RESTORATION PROGRESS

Hindered by limited visibility overnight and excessive damage in often hard-to-reach areas, field personnel have not yet been able to provide estimated restoration times. Based on the amount of damage already known, crews expect this to be a multi-day restoration effort in the hardest-hit areas.

We expect to provide an update on estimated restoration times later tonight for a majority of areas once crews have more information from their assessment. The critical task of assessing the number of broken poles and downed trees and power lines will continue through the weekend. When possible, restoring power will also be ongoing during the assessment phase.

GET UPDATES ON RESTORATION TIMES WHEN AVAILABLE 

Customers can get updated restoration information by enrolling in our alerts at AEPOhio.com/Alerts. When crews arrive on individual work sites, a more precise restoration time for the affected group of customers will be updated in our system and communicated through alerts if the customers have signed up to receive our notifications by phone or email. Updated information can also be found on AEPOhio.com/OutageMap.

TREE CREWS: CLEARING THE WAY FOR RESTORATION EFFORTS

When storms cause trees to bring down our power lines and equipment, our tree crews are often the first

on the scene — clearing the way so lineworkers can restore power. Our tree crews must move on quickly to help clear the way to restore power in other impacted areas. This is why property owners are responsible for cleaning up and disposing of the trees or branches cut by our tree crews once it’s safe to do so.

IMPORTANT SAFETY REMINDERS

Please remember to stay as far away as possible from downed wires and anything they may be touching. Call 911 to report safety hazards.

Also, investigate your surroundings before trying to clean up any debris. Tree limbs, leaves and other objects moved by the wind could hide downed wires.

NEXT UPDATE

Another update will be provided tonight after additional damage assessment is completed.