UPDATE, 10 am: Starting last night (Tuesday, June 13) around 10 pm, Paulding Putnam Electric Cooperative responded to around 800 members out of power, scattered from the New Haven, Indiana, area to Columbus Grove, Ohio. A large portion of impacted members were in the Kalida and Continental areas.

Scattered outages from the storm were caused by high winds, which knocked tree limbs and debris into lines. Downed poles and a vehicle accident were also reported.

Nearly 17,000 lightning strikes were recorded by WTVG 13 ABC Toledo’s First Alert lightning tracker, with confirmed wind gusts between 66 and 75 mph in Hancock and Putnam Counties.

Operations Manager Tim Bowley and Engineering Manager Steve Kahle coordinated crews around the clock; PPEC linemen, engineering staff, and mapping and dispatching technicians worked tirelessly through the night, despite the still-raging thunderstorm that pounded much of Ohio and Indiana.

 By 6 am this morning, Tuesday, June 14, PPEC crews had all power restored.

As of 10 am on June 14, nationaloutages.com (which shows data reported by electric cooperatives and municipalities) reports that Indiana still has 3,972 members-consumers without power and Ohio with 44,292 still in the dark. This does not include customers of investor-owned utilities like AEP or I&M, which place estimates much higher.

“The PPEC employees work tirelessly to restore power as quickly and safely as possible, and they keep members’ best interests at heart,” said PPEC CEO George Carter. “From our lineworkers in the pelting rain to our engineering staff behind the scenes updating our maps, it was a team effort to get members’ power restored before they woke up for work this morning. We can’t always control Mother Nature, but our members can rest assured their co-op employees are working hard to keep the lights on and life running smoothly.”

PPEC credits much of their quick restoration to employees’ dedication, the co-op’s work plan over the last few years, and their aggressive right-of-way tree-trimming program to avoid trees falling into lines.

Highlights from the 2022 PPEC work plan include:

• A budgeted 20 miles of old copper line rebuilds across Ohio and Indiana, as well as sectionalizing to reduce outage minutes.
• Installing and upgrading new sectionalizing equipment for improved reliability, system durability, and reduced outage time.
• Upgrading equipment in the Columbus Grove and Convoy substations, including high side switch replacement, new insulators and arrestors, and station metering. This will improve service reliability and extend the lifespan of these substations, raising their performance to meet today’s higher standards.
• Testing 4,800 poles in Paulding, Benton, Blue Creek, and Latty Townships in Paulding County through contractor Osmose. Poles are tested on a 10-year rotating cycle; any that fail the test were replaced.
• Extensive underground line extensions into the expanding subdivisions in New Haven, Indiana.
• Welcomed a new right-of-way tree trimming and vegetation management contractor, Mint City Utility Services. Tree-trimming occurs on a rotation, with 2022’s schedule including the Seiler, Hessen, Monroe, Rt. 14, and Tillman substation areas (Indiana) and the Convoy substation area (Ohio).

To learn more about outage updates, see PPEC’s live outage map online at www.PPEC.coop. For outage updates, follow PPEC on Facebook, or sign up for outage notifications via SmartHub. You can also sign up for PPEC's monthly email newsletter under the "News and Media" tab at www.PPEC.coop.

To learn more about outage reporting and find helpful links, visit www.ppec.coop/outages.

Comments from PPEC’s Facebook page during the storm are included here. Thanks to all members for their patience!