Line crews and tree removal companies powered through the weekend restoring power for more than 150,000 customers who had been without it since Tuesday.
Throughout the county, pockets remain without electricity, including about 1,020 households served by Cleveland Public Power (CPP) as of about 2 p.m. Sunday.
About 10,000 FirstEnergy customers were waiting for power Sunday evening. The utility estimated that all power would be restored for Cleveland customers by Monday, Aug. 12 at 11 p.m. (See updated estimates for other communities here.)
FirstEnergy officials said the company had more than 7,500 workers and contractors from 17 states working to get electricity fully restored. Following the Aug. 6 storm, about 400,000 customers in Northeast Ohio were without power.
State of emergency declared
On Saturday, Gov. Mike DeWine declared a state of emergency in Cuyahoga and seven other Northeast Ohio counties affected by last week’s tornadoes and storms. The declaration will kickstart additional help with damage assessment.
In a release about the declaration, DeWine said the state had provided Cuyahoga County with mobile oxygen generators and encouraged local governments to request additional help if needed.
Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne asked earlier in the day for the state to waive the $5.9 million technical threshold for the county to receive state assistance. Ronayne, speaking from the parking lot of the Brook Park Recreation Center that he was visiting on a tour of the 13 hardest-hit communities, thanked local leaders, workers and residents for the all-hands-on-deck effort to clean up from the storm.
“In the most difficult times, our citizens ban together in support of one another,” he said.
Families that receive SNAP benefits and lost food due to the outage can apply for reimbursement by submitting this form to the Cuyahoga County Department of Job and Family Services. The form can be emailed to [email protected] or dropped off to the offices at 1641 Payne Ave. in Cleveland. Local library branches can help residents print, scan and email the forms.
