CLEVELAND — As harsh winter weather moves through Northeast Ohio, thousands of residents are without power.
FirstEnergy tells 3News it's "all hands on deck" this weekend. Crews are prepared to work day and night, on 16-hour shifts as Northeast Ohio sees strong winds, rain and snow.
"If you see any downed wire — no matter if it's a power line, a cable line, a telephone line — please assume that it is energized," FirstEnergy spokesperson Lauren Siburkis said.
FirstEnergy has an outage map to view the current power outages across Ohio, which numbered more than 24,000 as of 10:30 p.m. Friday. These harsh conditions may impact how quickly utility crews are able to restore power.
Siburkis told WKYC when there are sustained winds above 40 mph, their crews cannot go up in bucket trucks to restore power.
"That could really hinder our restoration efforts, especially when we're looking at those sustained high winds for long periods of time," she added.
Counties across Northeast Ohio are either in a high wind warning or a wind advisory. Additionally, multiple counties issued Level 1 snow emergency Friday afternoon.
Richland County EMA Director Rebecca Owens told 3News this means that roads are hazardous and may be icy, and that drivers can be on the roads but need to use caution. The emergency order was later lifted, but residents are still on alert.
"Winter is here," Owens said.
Owens compares the weather system we're seeing to the system that hit Northeast Ohio during Christmas in 2022. During that storm, some people had their pipes freeze and burst.
"We sure don't want to see that happen again," Owens stressed. "If you got freezing pipes that might happen."
Several counties across Northeast Ohio have warming centers opening for residents over the weekend. In Richland County, there will be two warming centers open until next Saturday, Jan. 20: The Arc, a local church in Mansfield, will open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m.; and the Salvation Army in Mansfield will also open from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. starting Saturday.