CLEVELAND — A heat wave is not the time of year when you want to lose power, but unfortunately, residents in multiple counties are dealing with mass outages.
FirstEnergy says it is investigating the cause.
Most of the 27,000 outages as of 3:20 p.m. are in Cuyahoga and Summit counties.
City of Akron warns of rolling blackouts
The City of Akron says it has been notified by FirstEnergy about a service issue in Goodyear Heights. "Last evening, a transformer failed, and due to the ongoing high temperatures, they are bringing in a mobile substation to support the necessary repairs and replacement," said Akron director of communications Stephanie Marsh in a statement.
Marsh continued: "To manage the electrical load during this time, rolling blackouts may occur in the impacted area. If implemented, these outages will rotate on 90-minute intervals and could continue for up to 12 hours, depending on system demand and repair progress."
The city says the focus is on the neighborhood around Brittain Rd. and Eastwood Ave., specifically:
- Brittain Road between Evans Avenue and E Market Street
- Eastwood Avenue between Arlington Avenue and South Avenue
The city has cooling centers for those in need.
FirstEnergy responds
Spokesperson Lauren Siburkis sent News 5 a statement that said: "We understand being without power is difficult, especially in this heat. Our crews are investigating the causes of the outages across northeast Ohio and working to get customers back up and running as quickly and safely as possible.
"In response to the high temperatures, we’ve increased staffing to ensure a 24/7 response to any outages that may occur. It’s an all-hands-on-deck effort, and we’re committed to keeping our customers safe and informed. Customers can help us minimize power disruptions by taking steps to conserve energy use in their home, especially during the hottest hours of the day."
Early outages
The first outages today happened in Lakewood and the West Side of Cleveland.
Residents in these areas are no strangers to power outages.
RELATED: They're back. Power outages return to West Park and Lakewood.
It was early January when we first reported multiple power outages across West Park and Lakewood.
Now, they’re happening again—and residents are fed up:
RELATED: Lakewood residents want to know why their power keeps going out
When the power goes out, it can last anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours. In January, residents were worried about the cold. Now, it’s the heat.
Our meteorologists are warning people about the heat today:
