Severe Thunderstorm Watch issued March 22 at 5:43PM EDT until March 23 at 12:00AM EDT by NWS Wilmington OH (details ...)

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 73 IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT EDT TONIGHT FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS
IN INDIANA THIS WATCH INCLUDES 8 COUNTIES
IN EAST CENTRAL INDIANA
FAYETTE UNION WAYNE
IN SOUTHEAST INDIANA
DEARBORN FRANKLIN OHIO RIPLEY SWITZERLAND
IN KENTUCKY THIS WATCH INCLUDES 3 COUNTIES
IN NORTHERN KENTUCKY
BOONE CAMPBELL KENTON
IN OHIO THIS WATCH INCLUDES 32 COUNTIES
IN CENTRAL OHIO
DELAWARE FAIRFIELD FAYETTE FRANKLIN HOCKING LICKING MADISON PICKAWAY UNION
IN SOUTH CENTRAL OHIO
ADAMS HIGHLAND PIKE ROSS SCIOTO
IN SOUTHWEST OHIO
BROWN BUTLER CLERMONT CLINTON HAMILTON WARREN
IN WEST CENTRAL OHIO
AUGLAIZE CHAMPAIGN CLARK DARKE GREENE HARDIN LOGAN MERCER MIAMI MONTGOMERY PREBLE SHELBY
THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF ABERDEEN, ADA, ALEXANDRIA, AURORA, BATESVILLE, BEAVERCREEK, BELLEFONTAINE, BELLEVUE, BLANCHESTER, BRIGHT, BROOKVILLE, BURLINGTON, CAMDEN, CELINA, CHILLICOTHE, CIRCLEVILLE, COLDWATER, CONNERSVILLE, COVINGTON, DAY HEIGHTS, DAYTON, DELAWARE, DILLSBORO, DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI, DOWNTOWN COLUMBUS, DOWNTOWN DAYTON, EATON, ERLANGER, FAIRBORN, FAIRFIELD, FLORENCE, FORT THOMAS, FRANKLIN, GEORGETOWN, GREENDALE, GREENFIELD, GREENVILLE, HAMILTON, HIDDEN VALLEY, HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, HILLSBORO, INDEPENDENCE, KENTON, KETTERING, LANCASTER, LANDEN, LAWRENCEBURG, LEBANON, LIBERTY, LOGAN, LONDON, MANCHESTER, MARYSVILLE, MASON, MIDDLETOWN, MILAN, MILFORD, MINSTER, MOUNT CARMEL, MOUNT ORAB, MOUNT REPOSE, MULBERRY, NEW BREMEN, NEWARK, NEWPORT, OAKBROOK, OSGOOD, OXFORD, PEEBLES, PICKERINGTON, PIKE LAKE, PIKETON, PIQUA, PLAIN CITY, PORTSMOUTH, RICHMOND, RIPLEY, RISING SUN, SEAMAN, SIDNEY, SPRINGBORO, SPRINGFIELD, ST. MARYS, SUMMERSIDE, TIPP CITY, TROY, URBANA, VERSAILLES, VEVAY, WAPAKONETA, WASHINGTON COURT HOUSE, WAVERLY, WEST COLLEGE CORNER, WEST JEFFERSON, WEST UNION, WHEELERSBURG, WILMINGTON, WINCHESTER, WITHAMSVILLE, AND XENIA.

Friday, August 4th, 2006

Lightning strike at Greenville substation causes widespread power outage

By Timothy Cox

A widespread power outage that lasted nearly three hours Thursday evening was caused by a lightning strike on a substation near Greenville.

The Dayton Power & Light Co. substation suffered a direct strike, knocking out power to 10,000 DP&L customers and an undetermined number of other customers, DP&L spokesman Tom Tatham said. Most of Celina was affected by the outage, even though the city does not buy its power from DP&L. The city's electricity is transmitted exclusively over DP&L lines, which caused the local outage, Celina Safety-Service Director Jeff Hazel said.

The widespread outage also reportedly affected St. Henry, Fort Recovery and Coldwater.

Attempts to reroute power through a St. Marys substation worked briefly before further problems developed, Hazel said. The city was able to draw a small amount of power through a DP&L transmission line running from Greenville, but it was not close to enough to run the city, Hazel said.

It took DP&L crews nearly three hours to repair the damage that was subsequently done to the transmission line serving Celina and other parts of Mercer County, Tatham said. That damage occurred when the line became overloaded after the lightning strike, he said.

Tatham said the substation damage was repaired within an hour.

Only a few areas of Celina maintained electricity, including a section of the Main Street corridor and the Harbor Square shopping center. Even the Celina Police Department had to draw juice from a fire department generator to maintain power, Hazel said.

City officials tried to keep large employers with major equipment posted on the progress of the work, Hazel said. Those included Reynolds & Reynolds Co., CAPT, and Qualitech, some of which sent at least some of their second shift workers home for the night, he said.

"It was nothing we did, and there was nothing we could do about it," Hazel said.

Archive of August 4th, 2006

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Mariners win game on wild pitch

Aggressive baserunning and strong pitching kept the Grand Lake Mariners in the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League tournament winner's bracket on Thursday at Jim Hoess Field. [More]

Subscriber and paid stories on this date

Foreign students work at local fair

Students come during their summer breaks from college

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