While Athens’ weather woes may have come and gone, some residents are left without power, while many others are left with the remnants of fallen trees and debris.
On Friday, June 29, a “derecho” storm – a long-lived, straight-line windstorm traveling 60 miles per hour, covering 260 miles and associated with severe thunderstorms – plowed through southeastern Ohio, resulting in power outages across the area and leaving thousands of residents without air conditioning in the brutal hundred-degree temperatures.
According to the American Electric Power Ohio unit, more than 500,000 of the 660,000 customers affected by the storms have had their power restored as of 8 p.m., leaving about 152,000 AEP Ohio customers fighting to beat the heat.
At the storm’s peak, about 45 percent of AEP Ohio’s 1.4 million total customers were without power.
In Athens County, the city has collaborated with Ohio University to establish cooling stations for residents without power. Two cooling stations are currently in place – one at the local community center and the other at OU’s Baker University Center.
“I want to stress that it is not a ‘city versus university’ issue. It shouldn’t be viewed that way,” Athens County At-Large Representative Steve Patterson said. “They should both be working together to protect the residents and students, and I think they did it in a stellar fashion.”
Ohio Gov. John Kasich praised OU for the city and county’s response to the disaster, going so far as to say that communities throughout Ohio could learn from the swift response in Athens.
“It was a perfect example of the university working with the city working with the county,” he said in a university news release.
Athens has opened the local swimming pool to the public for free, as well as the local library for residents to access Internet and stay in a place with air conditioning, Patterson said.
The university provided coffee, water, and snacks at Baker University Center.
“The AEP has done a phenomenal job with getting power restored to the residents,” Patterson said. “They are working 24/7, around the clock, through the (Fourth of July) holiday – which they aren’t taking off, and I give them massive props for that.”
While there are countless trees on the ground, Patterson said there was no massive damage and this is “nothing compared to the tornado that hit the Plains” in 2010, which killed at least a dozen people. The damage from the derecho storm was primarily wind-related, as opposed to high-water problems.
In response to the city’s recovery efforts, OU President Rodrick McDavis said in a news release, “I am very proud of the thoughtfulness, care, concern and immediate response by our University, Athens and county officials, who came together to address the critical situation.”
The university’s efforts to aid the storm were especially helpful because the Emergency Operations Center was frequently talking with the governor’s office that then fed the information to the university, said Interim Dean of Students Jenny Hall-Jones.
“Just the fact that we came together was really helpful, because we were able to hear from people we wouldn’t otherwise have,” she said. “It’s like that anytime there’s a crisis, because relationships are stronger when something bad happens.”
In addition to the curbside pick-ups, which Athens utilizes to cut down massive
branches and clean up the street, Patterson said he was impressed at the community effort and residents leaving their houses to clear the streets and clear the trees blocking the main arteries in towns and neighborhoods.
“After seeing the city pull itself together and care for each other, working to open up the streets and making sure its residents are safe, I love my city dearly and am proud to say I am an Athenian,” he said.
az346610@ohio.edu
