Heat Leaves 20,000 First Energy Customers Without Power

The Greater Cleveland area had 20,000 FirstEnergy customers without power this afternoon as a heat wave sits over the Midwest.

Many of these outages in Patch’s coverage area have been fixed as of just before 5 p.m. today. Highland Heights still has about 800 customers without power.

Temperatures reaching the low- to mid-90s across the region put extra strain on equipment, said FirstEnergy spokesperson Mark Durbin. He added that, with little relief from the heat this week, more heat-related outages are possible.

The high temperatures are a result of an air mass that is mainly stagnant over the Midwest, said National Weather Service Meteorologist Mike Abair.

Aside from highs reaching the low 90s this week, Abair warned that high humidity could cause the heat index to exceed 100 during the latter half of the week.

Tuesday will be a bit cooler – relative to the rest of the week – with highs staying in the upper 80s. Areas closer to the lake’s shore will be a few degrees cooler than inland throughout the week.

Additionally, the Cleveland area, especially the west side, could see severe thunderstorms beginning at around 6 p.m.

Larger power outages including several thousand customers that were seen in Chagrin Falls and Mayfield Heights this afternoon have power again as of about 5 p.m.

As of 4:56 p.m., only four customers did not have power in Mentor.