FirstEnergy working to restore power to 6,000 still in the dark after last week's storms

The lights are back on in Greater Akron after damaging winds blew through in region last Tuesday and a torrential flood on Thursday.

It is a different story in Greater Cleveland and those counties in extreme Northeast Ohio where nearly 6,000 customers have been without power for nearly a week.

At a press conference on Monday, FirstEnergy Ohio President Torrence Hinton said crews have made remarkable progress considering some 400,000 customers lost power from the severe storms that spawned five confirmed tornadoes in northern Ohio.

Hinton credits 7,500 workers from Akron-based FirstEnergy and from 17 different states working 16-hour shifts for making such progress, particularly over the weekend, to restore power to nearly 200,000 customers.

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When will FirstEnergy restore power?

The work, Hinton said, will continue 24/7 to restore power to those still in the dark.

"We understand they are frustrated and tired," he said.

The goal is have power restored to most customers by midnight on Monday.

But it might take longer than that for some customers.

The challenge now is many of those remaining without power are in isolated areas where damage is pretty extensive or tricky to reach.

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Customers are urged to check firstenergycorp.com for updates and where to pick up free ice and water.

Hinton said what "Mother Nature can destroy in mere minutes" takes much, much longer to repair and replace.

Crews have already replaced some 400 poles snapped from the storm and 190,000 feet of powerlines.

FirstEnergy says the last time this many Ohio customers lost power was back in 1993 when some 300,000 were affected.

Once power is restored to the last customer, Hinton said, the work will begin to look at what went well and what didn't go as planned in such emergencies.

"We just ask for patience," he said.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: FirstEnergy working to restore power to 6,000 still in the dark after last week's storms