‘Be prepared and be safe;’ Tips to managing a power outage

DAYTON — As the Miami Valley prepares for another round of storms and high winds, throughout the overnight and into tomorrow, there are a few things to help prepare you in case of a power outage.

News Center 7′s Kayla McDermott spoke with the Director of Corporate Communications for AES Ohio, Mary Ann Kabel, about what you can do if the power goes out in this next round of expected winds Saturday.

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“We’re anticipating winds upwards of 40 to 60 miles an hour. That’s what we have a high probability of downed trees and branches of power lines. Our people and our customers need to take extra precautions and put safety first,” Kabel said.

Kabel suggests, first and foremost, to be prepared by checking your storm kit and ensuring everything is in it, check battery charging devices, have an extra battery charged and ready, non-perishable foods on hand, and blankets.

Another way to prepare is to have a plan, Kabel says. It is a good idea to know what you will do in case of an extended outage or where you may need to stay if case this occurs.

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“You have to be informed. Have the emergency numbers nearby, making sure you call us, or report your outage online at aes-ohio, and if you see a downed power line number one, stay away, call us immediately,” Kable said.

Last weekend’s weather seems to be repeating itself, and we could see a similar issue of power outages.

“There’s a higher probability of downed power lines due to the wind at that speed. Therefore, it’s most likely we’ll have outages and there’ll be widespread throughout our service territory,” Kable said

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AES crews will be fully staffed and are prepared should power outages occur and will be working through the night and into the weekend.

“Last week we experienced 27,000 outages in total but that’s during the course of the storm not all at once. So the main thing is to be prepared and be safe,” Kabel said.

AES Ohio covers 24 counties from the Indiana/Ohio border, and the outages were spread over all of those counties.

The best advice Kable could give going into the next round of storms is to make sure to report an outage and be safe.

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