More than 61,000 Franklin County customers remained without power Wednesday morning as Gov. Mike DeWine and Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther warned that recovery from Tuesday's storms will stretch into the weekend and that additional rain Wednesday evening could trigger flooding in already-saturated areas, including Upper Arlington.
The National Weather Service issued a Flood Watch for Franklin County through 11 p.m. Aug. 12, with forecasters warning of "considerable flooding" statewide through Aug. 14.
DeWine said flooding would persist even after the storm system passes. "Even after the storms exit the state, flooding will remain a serious concern," the governor said at a Wednesday press conference, according to The Guardian.
Upper Arlington's city government reported more than 100 instances of downed trees, downed power lines and property damage as of 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, with several streets still impassable. The city closed McCoy Road west of Clairmont Road and restricted Halstead Road, Pickwick Drive and Wellesley Drive near Upper Arlington High School to local traffic only so crews could clear debris, according to a city alert.
Upper Arlington Schools canceled Wednesday classes, what would have been the first day of school, due to storm damage and continuing outages at school buildings.
Power restoration could take until Friday
AEP Ohio reported 81,000 customers still without power across roughly 1,700 outages as of 9:45 a.m. Wednesday, NBC4 reported. The utility deployed approximately 3,700 crew members and said full restoration could take until Aug. 14. Hospitals and urgent care facilities will be prioritized before residential service.
Matt Bennett, AEP Ohio's director of operations, said Tuesday that out-of-state crews were arriving from as far as Oklahoma to help. "We're gonna need some patience from our customers, cause this is going to take a couple days, and we understand that that's not great for them to hear, but there's an extensive amount of damage," Bennett told WOSU.
Statewide emergency
DeWine declared a state of emergency for Perry and Muskingum counties and activated 40 Ohio National Guard members with 20 tactical vehicles to support rescue operations, the Springfield News-Sun reported. At least one person died in Roseville after flooding prevented emergency responders from reaching them.
At his Tuesday press conference, Ginther compared the storm's severity to a Level 3 snow emergency and urged residents to plan for a "very different next couple of days." The National Weather Service recorded an 82 mph wind gust at John Glenn Columbus International Airport during Tuesday's storms.
Cooling centers and how to report damage
The city of Upper Arlington opened several cooling and charging locations for residents without power:
- Bob Crane Community Center (Monday–Friday, 5:30 a.m.–10 p.m.)
- St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Dorset Road (daytime and overnight)
- Upper Arlington Public Library branches (10 a.m.–8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday; 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Friday)
- Northwest United Methodist Church, 5200 Riverside Drive (9 a.m.–3 p.m. Monday–Thursday; 9 a.m.–noon Friday)
Residents can report non-emergency storm damage by calling 614-459-2800. AEP Ohio outages can be reported at 1-800-672-2231 or tracked at outagemap.aepohio.com. Customers can file damage claims at aepclaims.com, though AEP's standard terms typically do not cover storm-related outage losses; the utility advises checking homeowner's or renter's insurance.
