Storm causes power outages, downs tree limbs

FOSTORIA — Seneca County saw several power outages and instances of damage as a result of Wednesday's storm. Some incidents included downed power lines, tree limbs and brush being blown around, with no reported injuries, Seneca County Sheriff Fred Stevens said. A tornado warning for Seneca County, northeastern Wyandot County and northwestern Crawford County was announced last night by the National Weather Service at 7:36 p.m., lasting until 8:15 p.m. "Our dispatchers and deputies handled a large amount of storm-related calls during yesterday's storms. This is typical after every storm," Stevens said. "Likewise, our jail staff ensured the inmates were safe and followed the correct protocols and policy during the active tornado sirens." He continued, noting an incident where a transformer had caught fire in the 1100 block of North TR 111, as well as an incident where a resident's motorcycle was blown off their property and into the road on South U.S. 23. Several residents in the Bloomville and Melmore areas are still dealing with outages as a result of the storm. According to American Electric Power's outage map, there are crews currently on scene throughout the county working to restore remaining outages. Justice Clifford, chief strategy officer of North Central Electric Cooperative, shared some further information regarding the storms. There were 4 remaining unassigned outages in NCEC's service area with 5 work crews still actively out on scene, or a team of roughly 11 people, as of Thursday afternoon. "An additional team of 8 were out starting last night, but are now on rest," Clifford said. He continued, sharing that NCEC is hoping to have the outages restored within the next hour or hour and a half, with their largest issues right now being transmission-related. "Additionally, we just put out a call to service asking residents to be mindful of their power consumption," said Clifford, citing waiting to do laundry as an example, until the issues are resolved. Fostoria The city of Fostoria emerged relatively unscathed from Wednesday night's storm, it appears. Safety Service Director Eric Keckler said Thursday morning that while several tree branches and limbs fell, no property damage was reported. He noted with Thursday being Juneteenth, a national holiday, cleanup work would begin on Friday. "Probably a full day of cleanup on Friday and probably into Saturday," he said. A representative of American Electric Power said about 100 Fostoria customers lost service, but it was restored to most overnight. He said that at about 10:15 a.m. Thursday, 11 customers at the south end of the city remained without power. Tiffin Residents in Tiffin felt the storms as well, with several power outages throughout the city, most of which have been restored, per Tiffin Police Chief David Pauly. Adding to what the sheriff said regarding calls in the county, Pauly noted nothing major was reported within the city. "There were a few limbs down and brush scattered about, but no reports of damage or any injuries," Pauly said. "The power was out momentarily in some areas of the city, but it was restored rather quickly."