ICE STORM SLAMS AREA

By MARK TODD and MARGIE TRAX PAGE
Star Beacon

Thu, May 15 2008

— Dozens of repair crews have descended on Ashtabula County to restore service to thousands of customers left powerless by Tuesday’s ferocious ice storm.
Trees and utility wires encased in ice came crashing down across the county Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, clogging roads and creating crisis conditions.
At the storm’s peak, more than 55,400 Illuminating Co. customers in Ashtabula County were without power, said Mark Jones, area manager. As of early Wednesday night, 30,000 customers were still in the dark, he said.
More than 100 repair crews from Toledo, Reading, Pa., and other Illuminating Co. agencies — along with outside contractors — arrived in the county Wednesday, Jones said. Work was expected to continue through Wednesday night and this morning, he said.
“We’re optimistic we should have everyone back up (today),” Jones said.
The biggest culprit were trees and limbs that fell across power lines, he said.
Hardest hit were areas in the northern part of the county, including Ashtabula, Conneaut, Geneva, Jefferson, North Kingsville and Kingsville Township, Jones said. Sporadic outages were reported as far south in the county as Roaming Shores, he said.
Emergencies were declared officially in Conneaut and Ashtabula, which will help those communities obtain government funds to recoup their cleanup costs. Ashtabula County officials were expected to follow suit today, according to reports.
“We’re already lining up the paperwork,” Sheriff William Johnson said.
Conneaut’s City Council convened a special meeting early Wednesday afternoon to authorize the emergency declaration.
Sections of three state highways were closed Wednesday because of limbs and downed power lines. Affected highways were Route 531 in Saybrook Township (between Ninevah and Rudd roads), Route 46 in New Lyme Township (between Brownsville and Windsor roads) and Route 7 in Monroe Township (between Root Road and Monroe Center).
Emergency shelters were created in Ashtabula, Conneaut and Geneva for people in need of a warm place to stay. Officials were lining up shelters in other parts of the county, said Johnson.
Coordinators had problems finding shelters with electricity, so widespread were the power outages, Johnson said. A shelter created inside the Conneaut Human Resources Center on Wednesday morning was abandoned when an outage occurred, said Conneaut City Manager Douglas Lewis.
As of Wednesday, shelters could be found at Conneaut Fire Station 3 (Route 20 and Middle Road), Geneva City Hall (44 N. Forest) and the Ashtabula Municipal Building (4717 Main Ave.)
A handful of people sought shelter at the Conneaut Human Resources Center early Wednesday. Belinda Rought, of Madison Street in Conneaut, brought her family to CHRC after their home became too cold, she said.
“Our power has been out since 2 a.m. (Wednesday),” Rought said.
Charles Taylor of downtown Main Street in Conneaut said cold weather chased him from his home, and he was grateful for the shelter. “This town (needs) the (CHRC),” he said.
Accidents and outages began soon after freezing rain began falling late Tuesday afternoon. By Wednesday morning, much of Ashtabula County resembled a war zone.
“Walnut Boulevard (in Ashtabula) looks like someone tossed a hand grenade,” Johnson said.
Across the county, ice-crusted tree limbs still blocked some side streets on Wednesday, and caution tape warned motorists and pedestrians away from downed wires.
“It’s the worst I’ve ever seen in regards to trees and power lines in the streets,” said Dom Iarocci, Ashtabula’s superintendent of public services.
Street crews in Ashtabula were using plows to push aside branches, Iarocci said. “We’ll be back to pick up the limbs,” he said.
The storm also disrupted garbage pickup in some parts of the city, including the Harbor district, Iarocci said. Trucks will pick up garbage in those areas today, he said.
In Conneaut, street crews will need plenty of time to remove limbs and trees that litter the city, said Bob Howland, Public Works Department director.
“It will probably take a couple of weeks to clean things up,” he said.
Police, firefighters and street workers teamed to unclog as many roads as possible, Howland said. Workers also have been erecting temporary stop signs to control traffic at intersections where signals are dark, he said.
Power interruptions caused low water pressure for Ohio American Water customers in Kingsville, North Kingsville, Plymouth and Sheffield townships, said Bill Dingledine, superintendent. Fewer than 500 customers were affected, he said.
Customers were urged to conserve water until power was restored, Dingledine said.
The storm kept safety forces in the Geneva area very busy.
“We have responded to more than 40 calls overnight and this morning,” said city Fire Chief Doug Starkey. “The calls picked up at 7:30 p.m., and we boosted our staffing immediately. We kept those crews working through the night.”
Starkey said most of the calls were about fallen wires and trees, some of which fell on houses, cars and across roadways.
Fallen trees and tree limbs were reported Tuesday night and Wednesday morning all across Geneva, dispatch records show.
One resident reported an explosion on Oak Ridge Drive after a wire fell and sparked to the ground, dispatch records show.
Starkey said no injuries were reported, but one area family was transported to the hospital for carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a generator.
Blackouts plagued some of the county’s busiest business districts. The Ashtabula Mall and adjacent shops were dark until early Wednesday afternoon. Downtown Conneaut also was affected, forcing many stores, including Orlando Brothers’ Golden Dawn, to close their doors. Conneaut City Hall, across the street from the supermarket, relied on power from a backup generator.
Farther west, the outages were sporadic, as Mary’s Diner on East Main Street was closed and without power. Gale’s Coffee Corner, located just down the road in the downtown square, was open and serving steaming cups of coffee to chilly customers. The Geneva State Park Lodge was forced to shut its doors because of the power loss, employee Mark Boyer said, but has a waiting list ready to call when the power returns.
While Geneva-on-the-Lake, Geneva and Geneva Township residents worried all night Tuesday about the contents of their freezers, Harpersfield Township and Rock Creek residents were warm all night but lost power late Wednesday morning.
“We have been in contact with FirstEnergy all day, and we understand some power issues will improve Wednesday, but it will take up to 24 hours in some places,” Starkey said. “I just keep telling people to make plans for the power not to be on anytime soon.”
Residents concerned with the cold are welcome to stay at Geneva City Hall, where tables and chairs have been set up in a heated room. Meals also will be served there for people who can’t cook and need a hot meal, Starkey said.
About 900 Windstream Telephone customers had no service in Ashtabula, Geneva, Madison and northern Trumbull County, said spokeswoman Erin Ascione. She said Windstream’s crews are first cleaning up the debris before determining what is needed to restore service. She expects service will not be fully restored until the weekend.
Special sections editor Robert Lebzelter contributed to this article.

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