(Cleveland) - thunderstorms that rolled across Greater Cleveland on Wednesday afternoon did a lot of dmage, and left thousands of homeowners in the dark when the power went out.
Storm damage was widespread, but the West Shore suburbs of Bay Village, Rocky River, Lakewood, Westlake, and Fairview Park seem to have been hit the hardest. The National Weather Service confirmed wind gusts in Bay Village of up to 80 MPH. Trees were uprooted all over that area, causing damage and street blockage. Thousands of tree limbs came down, bringing down power lines along with them.
As of Wednesday night, FirstEnergy reported 56,000 outages in Cuyahoga County. Thursday morning, that was down to 39,000. Cities with the most outages on Thursday morning include Bay Village, Cleveland, Lakewood, Lyndhurst, Rocky River, and Shaker Heights.
In a tweet, FirstEnergy said after a storm, here's how they prioritize turning back on your power:
First, critical public service facilities
Second, outages that restore the largest number of customers
Finally, localized issues and individual customers
Photo: Tom Moore, WTAM
Photo: Courtesy First Energy
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