AEP Ohio crews work to restore power for thousands after Thursday's storm

LANCASTER, Ohio (WSYX) — Severe storms swept through Ohio Thursday morning, leaving thousands without electricity and causing significant disruptions. AEP Ohio crews are working tirelessly to restore power across the state, with some of the outages affecting Lancaster.

In Lancaster, the Barrel and Boar restaurant faced a temporary closure due to a power outage caused by a tree falling on a power line behind the establishment. Crystal Morningstar, the general manager of Barrel and Boar, said, "This tree in his backyard took out our whole entire existence of power." The downed line impacted more than 100 people in the area, according to AEP Ohio's outage map.

Just as the news crew arrived, AEP Ohio crews managed to restore power to the restaurant. Morningstar said, "Literally right when you pulled. I have been here since 7:45 this morning and I have absolutely no power. We've been trying to get everything up to par so we can open later today for dinner."

Nearby resident Chad Littrell described the storm's intensity, saying, "We saw lightning and we heard the thunder off in the distance. And all of a sudden it got really wild. The wind chimes went crazy, everything starting blowing off porch. You could hear snapping and breaking and then we knew it was time to go to the basement."

We were watching the news. Channel 6 actually. And Phil Kelly was going through and telling us what to be aware of. - Chad Littrell

On Thursday morning, AEP Ohio said they have two thousand crew members out statewide working to restore power.

"Our employees really do take great pride, in not only the everyday work creating reliability, but especially when the storms roll through," AEP Ohio Director of Operations Matthew Bennett said. "They understand what families are going through who are at home with no power. They really want to get out there and restore the power. If we didn’t have to make them rest for 8 hours, we wouldn’t. They want to be out there and want to get everyone’s power restored as quickly as possible."

PHOTO GALLERY | Severe weather leaves widespread damage throughout Central Ohio

Central Ohio could experience several more days of heavy rain. Bennett said that can create an obstacle for crews who are out trying to restore power safely and efficiently.

"It definitely can slow the restoration process," Bennett said. "There are roads this morning that are closed due to water, which is another safety issue and it's going to be a thing over the next few days. Our crews are going to restore your power as quick as possible but they are going to do it safely. They are going to slowly handle those water areas we have specialized equipment to get to those hard-hit areas in the state. It just might take a little bit more time with the rain and the rising waters."