The Greater Cleveland area had 20,000 FirstEnergy customers without power this afternoon as a heat wave sits over the Midwest.
Many of these outages in Patch’s coverage area have been fixed as of just before 5 p.m. today. Highland Heights still has about 800 customers without power.
Temperatures reaching the low- to mid-90s across the region put extra strain on equipment, said FirstEnergy spokesperson Mark Durbin. He added that, with little relief from the heat this week, more heat-related outages are possible.
Durbin said that customers can help prevent wide-scale outages by reducing their electricity consumption this week: turn down the AC, turn off the lights when you leave a room and be conscious of your use.
The high temperatures are a result of an air mass that is mainly stagnant over the Midwest, said National Weather Service Meteorologist Mike Abair.
Aside from highs reaching the low 90s this week, Abair warned that high humidity could cause the heat index to exceed 100 during the latter half of the week.
Tuesday will be a bit cooler – relative to the rest of the week – with highs staying in the upper 80s. Areas closer to the lake’s shore will be a few degrees cooler than inland throughout the week.
Additionally, the Cleveland area, especially the west side, could see severe thunderstorms beginning at around 6 p.m.
Larger power outages including several thousand customers that were seen in Chagrin Falls and Mayfield Heights this afternoon have power again as of about 5 p.m.
Beachwood saw about 300 customers out this afternoon and at 5 p.m. there were six left.
This rather inexplicable situation of "selective household blow outs" (with no rain or lightning) and some delayed returns appears to me to be much more potentially dangerous than brief total power outages, even if seemingly "more convenient." Maybe First Energy needs to put much more focus on providing steady, safe flows of electricity; or at the very least warned, steady brown outs, with a few unavoidable, brief outages understood.