For a lot of Central Ohio, the question after Tuesday’s storms is pretty simple: when are we getting the power back?
The short answer is that there’s no single answer yet, and some people are going to be waiting considerably longer than others.
AEP Ohio originally reported more than 130,000 customers without power across its service area Tuesday afternoon after destructive winds knocked down trees, poles and power lines throughout Central Ohio. The company said crews from outside Ohio were being brought in to help with the response, including crews coming from as far away as Oklahoma.
That doesn’t mean every outage will last for days. Some customers have already had their power restored, while others are seeing estimated restoration dates later this week. Your individual restoration estimate can change as crews assess the damage, so the outage map is going to be more useful than a general promise about when the entire region will be back online.
Check your outage status
AEP says crews first prioritize larger groups of customers and critical facilities such as hospitals and emergency services, then work through the remaining damage.
Not everyone in Columbus is an AEP Ohio customer. The city’s Division of Power serves portions of Columbus and has its own outage map and emergency number (614-645-7627). AEP customers should report outages through AEP’s system, and the city says anyone who encounters a fallen power line should stay at least 10 feet away and contact the electric utility.
Please don’t go near the power lines
This one is worth repeating because storm cleanup creates some genuinely dangerous situations.
Never touch a downed power line or anything touching it. You can’t tell whether a line is energized just by looking at it. AEP advises customers to stay away and report dangerous lines or equipment.
If a line has fallen on your vehicle, stay inside the vehicle and wait for the utility to remove it.
What about all the food in my fridge?
Here’s the annoying part of losing power during a summer storm: your refrigerator isn’t going to keep everything cold forever.
According to Ready.gov, food in a refrigerator is generally safe for about four hours without power as long as the door stays closed. After that, perishable foods that have been above 40 degrees for more than two hours should be thrown away.
So try not to keep opening the fridge every 20 minutes to stare at your groceries and hope for the best. Keep the doors closed as much as possible. A full freezer will generally keep food frozen longer, but remember, “when in doubt, throw it out.” Nobody needs to turn a storm-related power outage into a stomach bug.
And don’t eat anything that has come into contact with floodwater.
If you need somewhere to go
Columbus officials said Tuesday that the city was setting up an emergency shelter on the South Side with the American Red Cross as residents dealt with storm damage and outages.
The city also has cooling centers and community resources available, which can be particularly important for people who rely on electricity for medical equipment, have young children, are elderly, or simply can’t safely stay in a home without power.
The most important thing right now is to stay safe and keep an eye on your utility’s updates. Restoration crews are dealing with a huge amount of damage, and some repairs are going to take longer than anyone would like.
