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Power back on to most after wind-wrought outages

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Staff photo by Nick Graham A tree knocked down from high winds blocks one lane of Charles Street Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2009 in Middletown, Ohio.

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Staff Report Updated 6:43 AM Thursday, December 10, 2009

HAMILTON — After a wind-whipped afternoon Wednesday, Dec. 9, power was back on for most people in Butler County in time to watch “The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.”

Less than 100 Duke Energy customers were without power Wednesday night after winds left nearly 17,900, including most of Oxford, in the dark in the afternoon.

Wind gusts of up to 30 mph are expected today, according to the National Weather Service. But nowhere near the 60 mph gusts that toppled trees and power lines Wednesday.

At its height, the storm brought a touch of chaos. A tree blocked the road at 6200 Hamilton Eaton Road. A brick wall collapsed due to the wind at 1634 Philadelphia Ave. in Middletown, according to dispatchers.

A fallen transmission line left more than 6,000 Oxford residents without power for about an hour, according to Duke officials. Power was out for roughly 2,000 in West Chester Twp. a little longer.

West Chester Twp. emergency crews responded to the Highland Shopping Center on Cincinnati Dayton Road after passersby reported a large sign leaning toward Interstate 75. Township spokeswoman Barb Wilson said officials have notified the Ohio State Highway Patrol to alert them of the sign’s proximity to I-75.

Johnna Reeder, spokeswoman for Duke, said there were a variety of different outages. “It’s not one outage. But we’ve got some poles leaning, trees on wires and wires down,” she said while the company rushed to make repairs.

The winds left as many as 34,000 people across Duke’s coverage area — which includes southwest Ohio, northern Kentucky and western Indiana — without power. But the grid was back up within hours.

Duke officials expect to have all storm related outages restored by 6 a.m. today. Residents still without power are urged to call Duke at (800) 543-5599.

Officials said the wind’s damage was minimized by the time of year: fewer leaves make trees less top-heavy, thus more likely to stay rooted.

Now that the wind is gone, on comes the cold. National Weather Service Meteorologist Ashley Novak said the highs today are expected in the low 20s, with temperatures dropping overnight and staying cold into Friday. “We are going to have some wind (today) as well,” she said. “It’s going to taper off a little bit (at) night.”

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Is Hamilton's system more reliable because they are more aggressive on tree trimming? Someone from Duke should review what Hamilton is doing and copy it.

Monroe99
10:22 AM, 12/10/2009

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Yes, West Chester has the very best - in corrupt politicians - Mike Fox, George Lang, Kay Rogers. You can keep them!

HHS fan
7:27 AM, 12/10/2009

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Westchestbest-yes the wind does blow harder in West Chester. You have John Boehner as a resident. Good suggestion on the competition in the area for Duke. Some competition for Duke would help keep energy costs down for us customers. Monopoly's never work toward lowest cost for the consumer. Duke needs to be regulated and their charges need to be constantly reviewed (and not by their buddies on the current board either) to protect the public. Need a rebate for the inconvience when power is lost.

Mercy!
7:02 AM, 12/10/2009

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Duke suc*ks and they will ask for even more money, we need utility competion to help hold cost lower or at least steady.
Sure Duke workers work hard and they also work for a greedy crooked company.

Crooked Duke
10:50 PM, 12/9/2009

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These people work hard to keep things going in bad weather then there's people on here that have nothing better to do than write in and complain , misspell words and act like they can do a better job when they have no idea whats going on or what it takes to do the job !!!

disappointed
9:56 PM, 12/9/2009

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