Cleanup begins after strong winds leave damage across N.E. Ohio

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Sunday night’s intense wind, rain, and hail left damage across Northeast Ohio. In Parma, a massive evergreen tree was uprooted, taking down powerlines with it. At Valley Forge High School, the wind ripped the roof off part of the high school, leaving debris across the lawn.

Workers spend the majority of Monday repairing the roof.

In East Cleveland, people were still without power 24 hours after the outage. “It went out about 4:00 yesterday and I called Illuminating Co. and they said they couldn’t tell me when it’d be back on but they’re working as fast as they could,” said Belinda Graham. She and the rest of her neighbors' homes on Grasmere Avenue are in the dark.

In Cuyahoga County, electricity was knocked out for at least 30 thousand customers.

The Illuminating Co. reporting 90 broken poles and more than 220 down power lines across the area. However, the wind was also strong Monday, making it hard for crews to get the lines repaired.

Graham said “we’ve got a lot of elderly on this street that really need the power back on right away.”

The power company estimates it may take many customers until Wednesday for electricity to be restored.

In Middleburgh Heights, the city’s Community Center extended hours until midnight for anyone to come seek shelter if they’re still without power. Recreation Director, Jeffery Minch said “we just opened the doors if people needed to warm up, if they needed a cup of coffee, if they want to watch some TV, or do their homework, or charge their devices, we opened our event center for that purpose.” The center is keeping social distancing and have set up office and class space.

“Bring your kids here. we set up classrooms, separated tables 6 feet apart, made sure every table had a plug, we’ve got WiFi, have your kids come and do distance learning here,” said Minch.

In Bay Village, residents are cleaning up debris, along with power outages. Carey Haley had a tree fall on his home during the wind storm. “We just heard like a big crack! So I thought the cars got hit out front. I get up to check out the cars by the front window and then that...smashed into the back on the house.” says Haley.

Tracey Merriweather lives in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood. All of his neighborhood are without power, leaving it completely dark. “I’ve seen a couple of my neighbors who are elderly. I spoke with them and ask if they’re okay. But right now it’s getting dark and people are just kind of fending for themselves.” said Merriweather.

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