Thousands remain without power in region following heavy Friday storms from Hurricane Helene

Helene blew ashore in Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane late Thursday packing winds of 140 mph (225 kph) and then quickly moved through Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee, uprooting trees, splintering homes and sending creeks and rivers over their banks and straining dams.

Western North Carolina was essentially cut off because of landslides and flooding that forced the closure of Interstate 40 and other roads. Video shows sections of Asheville underwater.

Locally on Saturday there were 53,224 outages in the region around noon of the 527,000 customers that AES Ohio serves, the company’s dashboard reads. Duke Energy, which supplies electric to Warren and Butler counties, reported 69,000 customers were without power.

AES crews will be working to restore power across the region throughout Saturday, according to company spokeswoman Mary Ann Kabel.

“We have more than 50 crews out right now and we’re calling in even more, along with assistance from the municipal and co-op utility providers to help with restoration efforts,” she said.

Kabel was unable to provide an estimate for when all services will be restored, noting the damage to power lines and other equipment caused by Friday’s strong winds and rain.

“What we try to do is first respond to the circuits that are effecting the largest number of customers so that we can bring as many people back on as possible, but other outages may be isolated and require more specialized repair, which often takes longer,” she said.

The total number of customers without power during this storm peaked at 125,000, Kabel said.

Some customers have been without power since Friday, as Kabel noted conditions on Friday evening inhibited crews from responding quickly.

“We can’t put a bucket truck up (to service power lines) when the wind is in excess of 20 mph; it’s just not safe for our crew members, so that kept progress held back,” she said, adding that once the winds died down, crews worked through the night Friday.

Duke Energy restored power to more than 60,000 customers who were affected by the high winds that moved through the Greater Cincinnati area Friday, causing more than 140,000 power outages, the company said.

The storm initially caused outages in seventeen counties due to the high winds ranging between 50-70 miles per hour.

As workers continue performing damage assessments, Duke Energy plans to communicate additional information regarding restoration times to customers through Outage Alerts and the Outage Map.

“This was a significant storm event that affected much of the Eastern United States and our area of the Midwest. We are moving personnel and resources to the areas of our service territory in Ohio and Kentucky that have seen the greatest impacts from Hurricane Helene,” said Duke Energy OH/KY President Amy Spiller.

“Our top priority is always to restore service safely and rapidly, and we appreciate our customers’ patience while we respond to a rapidly-evolving situation. This has been a particularly challenging storm for national and global forecasts to predict. We now have a full complement of crews out in the field that are working tirelessly to restore power.”

In Miami Twp., electricity was out at Austin Landing and all of the retailers were closed. The intersection at Ohio 741 and Austin Boulevard had no traffic lights working.

Strong winds on Friday toppled the longtime sign at the Dixie Twin Drive-In in Harrison Twp.

The large red and yellow sign fell Friday night and the drive-in had to cancel its shows for the night, according the company’s Facebook page.

Hurricane Helene remnants hit the region with damaging winds and heavy rain felling trees and utility poles and leaving tens of thousands of residents and businesses without power.

“If you come across an intersection with the traffic lights out, please stop at the intersection and treat it like a 4-way stop,” the Dayton Police Department said in a post to X — formerly known as Twitter on Saturday. “Work is being done to try to restore power but we do not have a timeline for when power will be back for all of the intersections currently without power.”

“Public Works crews have cleared debris from all reported road blocks,” the City of Centerville said in a Facebook post Friday night. “Trucks are now going street by street to ensure all roads are open and passable. If yours is not, let us know!”

Moraine Police Department said in a Facebook post last night that due to the downed power lines and hazards in the roadway from storms Friday night, they had experienced an increase in call volumes.

“Our dedicated Police, Fire, and Public Service crews are working tirelessly to clear roads of debris, respond to emergency calls and ensure public safety.” the Kettering Police Department said on their social media page last night.

The City of Vandalia Division of Fire said in a Facebook post Friday they had been responding to several trees down in roadway, trees on houses, trees on wires, wires down and poles.

“One note, damage to a transformer in Victory Park (Cyril and Clyde areas) has caused transformer oil to be spilled into the grass and on walking paths,” the division of fire’s post continued. “Parks and Recreation will be closing the park off as soon as it is safe for the maintenance staff to get out in the a.m.”

In Warren County, community events like the Ohio Renaissance Festival are closed for the day due to power outages. Special tickets for today will be refunded with tickets from today valid for tomorrow or Oct. 19, 20, 26 and 27.

No one was injured Friday in the Lakota School District after a school bus was trapped by powerlines on McCauley Road.

A tree had fallen, trapping the bus in the powerlines, according to West Chester Twp. police

Police said Duke Energy crews were able to free the bus and allow it to continue on its route.

The high wind warning activated the Ohio Emergency Management Agency’s Ohio Traveler Alert System for the first time since it was launched in May. High-profile vehicles, such as a truck, van or SUV, are more prone to being pushed out of lanes or flipping in high winds. Also, motorists must watch for blowing objects.

Officials at the National Weather Service’s Wilmington office said they’re working to determine if any tornadoes occurred during Friday’s severe weather.

“We’re looking at the data we have available from the radar, but nothing is confirmed at this time,” said Meteorologist John Franks.

The high wind warning in effect through 10 p.m. was canceled early, around 6:30 p.m., and the region was under a wind advisory until 10 p.m., which also was canceled early, around 8:45 p.m., as the wind weakened over the evening hours.

Saturday’s weather forecast calls for a 90% chance of rain, mainly after noon, for a total of between a tenth and a quarter of an inch possible.

Saturday’s high temperature will peak near 69 degrees, with east wind around 10 mph, and a low temperature of around 63 degrees tonight, according to the National Weather Service.

Sunday’s high will reach near 73 degrees, with east wind around 7 mph, and a low temperature of around 64 degrees Sunday night. Rain showers are forecasted throughout the day, with thunderstorms possible after 5 p.m.

Chances for precipitation and storms will continue through Sunday night and into Monday.

East wind will be between 3 to 6 mph on Monday, with a high temperature near 77 degrees. Monday’s chance of precipitation is 70%.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.