Crews have continued working all day, using heavy equipment to get pulled into and out of locations to make repairs and working on foot or with small ATVs. Medina County rainfall returns show 2-8 inches of rain during this event. The saturated ground and flooding today slowed restoration efforts. At this time, Sunday's weather outlook includes no rain, which will make things much easier.
For the meters that are still without power: If you do not have power as of 8 p.m. you will remain without power overnight.
For safety reasons: Crews will stop working at dark tonight. Due to the continuous hours worked and with the standing water in areas and the possibility of downed wires and poles we may be unaware of, it is too dangerous for them to work overnight.
We are working to personally contact members in areas where we know we cannot restore power today but we may not be able to reach everyone.
Restoration Estimates: Please note - these are only estimates. With the current weather and rainfall predictions for this afternoon, these numbers and predictions could change.
Medina County - 280 meters total
- Taylor Lane / CR 531: About 40 meters. We are working to pull trucks in to make repairs; the rain has made this area very difficult to access. Crews are on location replacing poles and conductors and have visually inspected the stretch of line; with what we know at the time, we expect power to be restored by 10pm. However, if other issues are encountered that could change and the area could remain without power overnight.
- CR 1343 / VanDeWalle Lane / CR 4514 / CR 5710: About 40 meters. Poles are down and located in very difficult areas to access. Crews are going to do everything they can to get power on, but realistically with the damage we have seen and the work that is needed, members should prepare to be off overnight.
- CR 642: 13 meters. Crews are unable to access this location because of a creek; once it goes down, crews will report again but it is unknown what other damage they find when they walk in. If this area is without power at 8 p.m. it will be off overnight.
- CR 651: 65 meters. Crews are working to isolate part of this line that needs repairs. This will result in some meters having power restored tonight and others will remain off overnight. Members that will remain off overnight will receive an email or phone call.
Remaining meters without power are mostly individual locations or groups of less than 5 meters or are hunting camps or water wells that are not occupied. Crews are working to restore those. No restoration estimates at this time. All residences are priority and any repairs that can restore multiple meters at once will take priority over a single location.
We will post another update Sunday morning.
>> CEO Update: https://youtu.be/q8NhmlfUkbw <<
- Report any new outages on SmartHub or by calling 1-866-632-3532.
- Do not approach downed power lines or poles. They could still be energized and are dangerous.
- Do not drive through flood waters. Turn around, don't drown!
- Unplug appliances and devices to prevent power surges to them.
- Keep refrigerators and freezers closed to help maintain the temperature.