PARMA, Ohio — Almost 260,000 people are still without power after storms hit northeast Ohio on Tuesday.


What You Need To Know

  • Almost 260,000 people are still without power after storms hit northeast Ohio on Tuesday, and some customers are hearing their power may not be restored until the middle of next week

  • Parts of Parma can be described as a mess: downed power lines, cars covered by trees, people stuck in their homes

  • Some residents said they haven’t had nearly enough communication about what’s going on

  • Hannah Catlett, a spokesperson for FirstEnergy, said the Illuminating Company has set its estimated time of power restoration for Wednesday, Aug. 14

Some customers are hearing their power may not be restored until the middle of next week.

Parts of Parma can be described as a mess: downed power lines, cars covered by trees, people stuck in their homes. It’s a clearly and unsafe situation to be in, and some residents said they haven’t had nearly enough communication about what’s going on.

Karen Siska’s condo complex in Parma is surrounded by wires, downed telephone lines and trees after the storms.

“They’re told just to stay in their homes, where are they going to get food from?” Siska said. “Who is going to supply the food to them? They can’t just get in their vehicle and get out the driveway. They didn’t clear the driveway, so you are stuck in your house.”

She said she and her husband are forced to stay in a hotel due to his medical condition.

Just down the street, Ethan Rivera was picking up the mess the storm left in his front yard.

“So just major clean up, a lot of down branches,” he said. “We have some stuff in the backyard that took out our swing set. Luckily, structurally the house is OK, couple blown out windows from just the high winds that made things into shrapnel.” 

Hannah Catlett, a spokesperson for FirstEnergy, said the Illuminating Company has set its estimated time of power restoration for Wednesday, Aug. 14. Some people will regain power before then, but others will remain in the dark. She said crews are working around the clock to fix things.

“This is the largest impact that we’ve had from a thunderstorm since 1993," Catlett said. "That’s more than 30 years that we have not seen numbers this high.”

But Siska said she’s hoping for more communication from city officials and other leaders as the cleanup continues.

“So to me that is very dangerous to have people here with live wires instead of telling them to evacuate, cause I think they should have all been evacuated if they wanted to leave due to the situation with the live wires,” she said.