The massive ice and snow storm that moved through northern Ohio yesterday left approximately 200,000 FirstEnergy Corp. customers without power. As of 3 p.m. today, 180,000 have been restored. Less than 20,000 remain without service in the Toledo and Cleveland areas. In Cleveland, the majority are expected to be restored by midnight tonight, with the remaining customers back in service by Wednesday afternoon. In Toledo, where the ice damage was more severe, most customers are expected to be restored by midnight Wednesday, with some individual outage locations possibly stretching to Thursday.

Crews from other FirstEnergy utilities – Ohio Edison, Pennsylvania Power and Pennsylvania Electric – have joined Toledo Edison and The Illuminating Company crews, as well as outside contractors and crews from Detroit Edison and Cleveland Public Power, to assist with restoration efforts, particularly in the hardest hit areas of Sylvania and Holland in northwest Ohio, and Chardon, Chesterland, Cleveland, Fairview Park, Lakewood and North Olmsted in northeast Ohio. In total, nearly 280 utility and contractor crews are involved in the restoration effort, which was hampered by treacherous road conditions and ice-covered tree limbs falling into electrical equipment.