On Sunday afternoon, Hurricane Ike paid the Cincinnati area a surprise visit on his way toward the northeast. Although decidedly not the Ike that devastated parts of Texas, this boy still had legs when he reached Ohio. The region saw winds in excess of 75 miles per hour, meaning that Ike was still a Category 1 hurricane. The winds were surprising strong and destructive, whipping trees and power lines for about three hours.
By 9pm Sunday evening, 1.2 million customers in the Cincinnati metro area were without power. According to Duke Energy, that was 90% of their customers in this region.
Around 3pm, I watched the electric and phone lines behind my house suddenly bounce and swing rapidly. Three houses up, a limb had fallen directly on the lines, pulling them to the ground, along with the electric service wires to my neighbors’ homes. Needless to say, that did us in also.
The limb remains fallen on the lines at this hour, as the crews have been unable work on it just yet. My home, like many still in the Cincinnati area are without power. Repair is not expected for several days yet. All is not lost, however. Our good fortune is that our neighbor on the south side has electricity. With a heavy duty 100 foot extension cord, my family has a working fridge and a single light in the kitchen. Thank you Amy and TR!!
It seems like a long time without power, but my praise goes out to the hard working men and women on line crews out there 16 hours a day, sleeping 8, and then doing it again. There are hundreds of thousands of people waiting, and they’ll get here as best they can. The task has to be daunting.
You can read more from The Cincinnati Enquirer. (You’ll have to make up your age, gender, and zip though.) Here’s a page from a local TV station, WCPO.
And now, I’m leaving my electrified office for the electric-free residence.
Notes From Neal 