Severe storms leave thousands without power in northeast Ohio
Severe storms destroyed power lines, causing widespread outages in northern Ohio. According to FirstEnergy, more than 340,000 homes are still without power.
More than 250,000 homes and businesses in Ohio were still without power, several days after severe storms and at least two tornadoes hit the northeastern part of the state.
The National Weather Service in Cleveland confirmed Thursday that two tornadoes touched down in Lorain and Cuyahoga counties on Tuesday.
Further investigations are planned throughout the region on Thursday, the NWS said on X. As of Thursday, possible victims of the storm in the state were not yet known.
Shortly after noon local time on Wednesday, more than 261,000 customers in the greater Cleveland area were affected by widespread power outages.
Which counties in Ohio still have no power?
USA TODAY’s Power Outage Tracker showed the largest outages Thursday afternoon were concentrated in four northeast Ohio counties:
Power outages in North Carolina Nearly 130,000 people in Tar Heel State without power after Tropical Storm Debby makes landfall for the second time
Power outage map for Ohio
Live updates: Tropical Storm Debby devastates North Carolina; death toll rises to 7
Consequences of Tropical Storm Debby
The storm reached the coast of Florida’s Big Bend region on Monday before moving over Georgia and continuing to meander along the Atlantic coast.
According to the National Hurricane Center, Debby made landfall for the second time early Thursday morning near Bulls Bay, South Carolina, less than 30 miles northeast of Charleston, with maximum sustained winds of up to 50 mph.
At least seven people were killed as a result of the storm, officials reported on Thursday.
The storm is expected to bring up to 8 inches of rain, with some areas of the Carolinas and Virginia potentially seeing as much as 15 inches of rain on Thursday and Friday. Flood warnings were issued for the Mid-Atlantic region and the Northeast on Thursday evening and into Friday night.
The storm brought nearly a foot of rain to parts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, prompting flash flooding, rescues and downed trees and power lines.
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter at USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X at @nataliealund.
