SCIOTO VALLEY, Ohio — Strong winds swept across south-central Ohio Friday, knocking out power to thousands of residents and bringing down utility poles and lines across multiple counties as repair crews raced to restore service before nightfall.
The National Weather Service warned of southwest winds between 20 and 30 mph with gusts up to 55 mph, cautioning that tree limbs could come down and outages were likely. That forecast proved accurate across the Scioto Valley.
South Central Power
South Central Power reported the most widespread damage across its coverage area, with Ross County hit hardest — 627 customers lost power, the highest single-county total in the region. Fairfield County followed with 506 customers out, and Hocking County reported 142 without electricity.
Across all counties served by South Central Power, roughly 1,640 customers lost power on Friday, spanning Ross, Fairfield, Hocking, Brown, Pickaway, Belmont, Vinton, Perry, Highland, Pike, Franklin, and Fayette counties.
AEP Ohio
AEP Ohio reported 818 customers without power across 50 separate incidents in the region. The company estimated power would be restored to affected customers by 11 p.m. Friday.
Buckeye Rural Electric
Buckeye Rural Electric reported 717 customers without power across 9 outages as of the latest update.
Combined, the three utilities reported more than 3,100 customers without power across the region as of Friday afternoon.
Residents are reminded to stay away from any downed power lines and to treat all downed lines as live and dangerous. Report outages directly to your utility provider.
The Wind Advisory remains in effect until 8 p.m. Friday. Drivers — especially those in trucks or other large vehicles — should use extra caution on roadways.
Outage numbers reflect figures available at time of publication and may change as crews work through repairs.