Just a quick check in (Updated, power back, Internet Up)

[randy]

SW Ohio took a nice hit from the remnants of Ike. Power out all over. I'm checking in from work (generator power) but could be up to 4 days before full restoration.

Spent yesterday afternoon helping secure aircraft at a local air park while dodging pieces of of hanger flying through the air. In some cases all we could do was damage mitigation. Several of the hangers are probably totaled and lots of aircraft damage.

Spent the evening helping run a Ham radio net supporting county EMA damage assemsment. MUCHO trees down, streets blocked ,power lines, etc.

At my house only lost a part of covering of one sofit on the garage and my HF antennas need a major rework, but nothing more than a nuisance. Didn't even lose a single shingle (unlike many of my neighbors),

Any way, I may be scarce the next few days.

[Fivetoes]

I'm across the river on the other side of Ohio. We had lots of wind and gusts but I don't know of any damage other that I had to chase a garbage can lid into the street, had a hard time lighting the grill and my dsl was out a few hours this morning.

[First Shirt]

Be careful, check in when you can, and let us know if we can help.

[randy]

Got power back at about 1400 yesterday (71 hours). Still no internet so I'm still limited to work time access.

[jetfxr69]

Randy,
Do you have any insight to the power restoration plan, given your comm connections?

SWMBO and offspring are still living in the dark. Plenty of friends to support 'em, but the "not knowing" and not being told anything are starting to wear the nerves thin.

[randy]

Got internet back at home late Thursday.


jetfxr69, most of what I know is from the media. My EMA contacts have been mainly passing damage assessment reports to them and gathering up troops to help man the radios and phones downtown. And that's probably the wrong county if your family lives where I think they do.

What I've seen and heard is that priority was critical facilities (Hospitals, nursing homes, LE, FD etc) and safety hazards (lines down in streets, etc). I think that's been accomplished.

The next phase has been clearing the faults that bring the most customers on line. And then working down from there.

So if the fault is taking out 200 customers, that will take a higher priority than a branch line or transformer that feeds only 10 or so houses (as happened to me a few years ago, about the last one on-line in the entire area).

Last I heard they were about 80,000 customers still out (out of the original 200,000+) and full recovery may not be done until Monday in some area (mostly the rural counties).

One piece of advice is that if she sees power coming on in surrounding houses but still out at yours, don't be shy about calling the utility. In my case a few years ago they cleared a fault that fed the neighborhood, saw the lights come on and moved on to next issue. There was a fault further down the line that took out the power at my house and the 3 or so up and down the block and behind me that they didn't see. They had us marked as active until I called.

If I can help out drop me a line. If I get any more info I'll post it here.

[randy]

Update from the DP&L website:

Service was restored to 9,000 customers Friday night. As of 7 a.m. Saturday, 59,000 customers are without power. By Sunday, we plan to have the vast majority of customers back in. Final, individual pockets of outages could take longer. DP&L has a team of 1,200 people, including crews from eight states, working to restored power. (read more)

The simplest, most efficient way for customers to report an outage is by calling 877-4Outage (877-468-8243).

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