Power outage poses problems for Perrysburg businesses

Only two cash registers were open, using a backup generator, at the Walt Churchill's Market in Perrysburg during a power outage.

Anytime Fitness member Mark Merz had to do some of his changing into workout clothes in the front gym window Thursday afternoon when the electricity went out.

"Never stops," he said about a power outage preventing his workout. "Somehow, someway have to get it done. I have about 45 minutes of daylight."

Most stores in River Place Shopping Center, such as Anytime Fitness, had to either close early Thursday or use the daylight to see because a 138,000-volt transmission line stopped working at about 3 p.m. for Toledo Edison. Initially, 11,000 customers were without power in Wood County, including 6,300 in Perrysburg and another 3,000 in Perrysburg Township.

Toledo Edison said it was unsure why the transmission stopped working. The power company said it provided a new electricity feed so by 4 p.m. it had restored power to all but about 1,000 customers who live near Levis Commons and in the State Rt. 25 and Eckel Junction area. Their power was restored a few hours later.

Workers at Walt Churchill's Market in Perrysburg said the outage began at 2:20 p.m. The grocery store stayed open by using a generator to keep the line on and two cash registers.

"We're fine, waiting on the power," manager Bob Carpenter said. "We just keep monitoring the temperatures [of the food] and that's all you have do."

Several shops in the shopping center, including the Licensing Bureau, had hand-written closed signs because of the power outage.

Tina Ibarra, a worker at El Vaquero's Mexican restaurant, gathered with hostesses by candlelight in the evening, hoping for power soon.

"If the power doesn't come out before dark, we'll have to close because it's so dark," she said.

The restaurant was able to provide their entire menu though because the gas stove and grill were working, but no light was becoming the issue just before dusk. Some customers also weren't comfortable writing their credit card information down for charges to be made when the power was restored.

At Bel-Aire Cleaners, Emily Jennings was waiting for a call back from her boss to close by Thursday afternoon.  She had a few customers drop off clothes and said she'd process them later in the computer, and  a few customers made pickups and she wrote down information to process the charges later.

Contact Matt Thompson at: mthompson@theblade.com, 419-356-8786, or on Twitter at @mthompson25.