Communities assist each other to begin storm cleanup

After battling a second week of high wind storms that left thousands without power, city officials, community leaders and residents are working together in the aftermath.

The city of Campbell, which saw about 90 percent of FirstEnergy customers lose power, is now back up and running except in a couple of homes, according to Campbell Mayor Bryan Tedesco.

"Ohio FirstEnergy did great work for us," Tedesco said, who for 45 years served as a foreman at FirstEnergy. He said many of the men and women out working were individuals Tedesco trained his whole life and expressed his pride in seeing them work hard despite being overwhelmed with outages throughout the Mahoning Valley.

Tedesco described a collaborative effort among city officials and community members to put the city, and even neighboring communities, back together.

"Myself, council members and any community member with a chainsaw worked to clean up trees from the road," Tedesco said.

Having dealt already with the storm March 25, he said preparation this time made them feel like "veterans" when dealing with the wind storm this past weekend.

"The first one caught us off guard. Our dispatch last week had about 600 calls the first time. We had 400 the second time and we had backup generators, extension cords at the ready. It showed when there's a massive disaster, we'd step up to the plate," Tedesco said.

The mayor also praised the city of Struthers, which helped dispatch in Campbell during the onslaught of outages.

FIRSTENERGY

Lauren Siburkis, FirstEnergy spokeswoman, said Ohio Edison crews have worked around the clock in 16-hour shifts to restore service to about 5,700 customers who remain without power in Mahoning and Trumbull counties.

"While they (Ohio Edison) continue working 24 / 7 to restore service, free water and ice are available to customers without power at several local Giant Eagle locations," Siburkis said.

The fallout from back-to-back wind storms in northeast Ohio has led to the company to replace 500 broken poles, 250 broken transformers and nearly 200,000 feet of downed power lines.

Siburkis has said all impacted customers should expect to have power by today.

"We know the challenges brought on by back-to-back storms have been disruptive to our customers' daily lives. Our hundreds of workers are committed to working around the clock until every customer is back up and running. We appreciate their ongoing patience and understanding during this time. Stay safe," Sirburkis said.

LEAVITTSBURG DEATH

One casualty was reported in Trumbull County as a result of the storm. Brenton Hemberger, 13, of Leavittsburg, was killed when a tree fell on his family's home in the 300 block of Park Road.

An outpouring of support for the family has come in the form of well wishes on social media and from community members. Local businesses are setting up fundraisers for Hemberger's family, who also lost their home on Saturday.

The Wagon Wheel Bar & Restaurant on South Leavitt Road will host a benefit dinner for Kassie Brooks-Hemberger, the mother of Brenton Hemberger, at 4 p.m. April 29. Plates will be $15 and the event will feature a basket raffle, 50-50 raffle and live music by Southington singer-songwriter Phil Brady.

A local nonprofit organization, Project "Be Somebody" Inc., also will help prepare a benefit for the Hemberger family. Founder Lisa Booze said her phones and Facebook page have blown up with "hundreds of people" offering support for the family.

The group will announce its benefit plans following a Wednesday board meeting but expects to host a spaghetti dinner and bake sale.

"It's a wonderful thing when the community comes to together and steps up to help a family in need," Booze said. After reports of theft from the rubble of the home, Booze also said she plans to work with a restoration company to help place the family's belongings in storage.

TRUMBULL COUNTY EMA

Trumbull County EMA Director John Hickey said nothing has changed from its response from the March 25 storm, with the EMA sending out warnings and watches across social media.

"I think because it was fresh in everyone's mind and the local communities had lessons learned from the week before that made them more equipped to deal with another storm," Hickey said.

Looking to be proactive, Hickey said he reached out immediately to all the city officials, including local fire chiefs, to see where the EMA was needed. Hickey also responded to the home in Leavittsburg where Hemberger was killed to assist Summit County officials, who came to help the cleanup efforts.

According to Hickey, Brookfield trustees opened their administrative building to residents to find warmth and charge their phones, and several churches in Warren also welcomed residents.

WARREN'S RESPONSE

One of the Warren officials with whom Hickey was in close contact was Safety Service Director Eddie Colbert, who was sending updates via social media about road closures and resources available.

Colbert said a second week of storms gave the city more understanding of additional resources they could use.

"Our guys are used to going out for smaller thunderstorms with maybe one or two trees down," Colbert said. "This required all of our manpower helping with safety concerns, clearing streets and helping with power lines."

Colbert said city workers were running out of barricades and going to different departments for more.

"It's not something you see every day. I've never seen this level of devastation for this big of an area," Colbert said.

According to Colbert, the city went from 5,962 homes without power Sunday to about 429 Monday morning.

He comended the hands-on effort from the community.

"Churches and local organizations assisted, whether it was opening their doors for charging stations, the Mahoning Valley Mobile Market that gave out food, the partnership with Warren Family Mission providing shelter, the Salvation Army and Warren City Schools running a pantry out of the school. It was a hands-on effort for everyone to come out and assist," Colbert said.

First Ward Councilman Todd Johnson joined Colbert in lauding the community support. The pair helped spearhead the mobile market in partnership with Alliance for Congregational Transformation Influencing our Neighborhoods and Flying High Inc. to have the van appear at Warren G. Harding High School, Grace United Methodist Church and Trumbull Community Action Program on Saturday.

The Mercy Health Foundation provided $50 vouchers for 500 households to spend at the market, which Johnson said gave out about 4,000 meals.

Johnson, like Colbert, was active on social media sharing safety tips and resources with the community.

Reporter Bob Coupland contributed to this story.