Storms cause outages, potential flooding

7/7/2013
BLADE STAFF

This weekend's heavy rainfalls left thousands of Toledo Edison Co. customers without electricity today.

Also, the National Weather Service issued a flood advisory for Lucas County, northern Wood County, and Ottawa County this evening. The advisory was to remain in effect until 8 p.m.

As a thunderstorm moved east through northwest Ohio earlier today, a total of 3,100 people lost power throughout Toledo Edison's coverage area, said Hans Rosebrock, external affairs manager for the power company.

Lucas County was the hardest hit areas, with 2,100 Toledo Edison customers losing power, Mr. Rosebrock said. He said that as of 5:30 p.m, Toledo Edison restored service to all but 53 customers in the county.

Heavy rains also caused scattered blackouts in Henry County, with a total of 867 power outages reported among Toledo Edison customers, and in Putnam County, where 122 people remained without electricity for several hours.

Defiance, Williams, and Wood counties also experienced sporadic power outages during the thunderstorms, according to Mr. Rosebrock.

Toledo Edison predicted power would be restored to most of its northwest Ohio customers overnight.

"As we speak, we've got crews on the field working on these power outages," Mr. Rosebrock said.