Columbus families wait for the power to turn back on, AEP crews working 16-hour shifts

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — Thousands of families and businesses are without power in central Ohio Wednesday night.

Based off AEP Ohio’s outage map, Franklin County has the most customers in the dark. But some neighbors are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

“Joy, real joy, like thanking Jesus for our lights to be back,” said Dawn who lives at a south Columbus complex.

While power came back on at her complex Wednesday evening, it was a long approximately 30 hours without it.

“I need it,” explained Moniquie, who uses electricity for medical equipment. “I need it. I have machines I have to use. I can’t use my machines. I haven’t been able to use my machine since yesterday.”

She was also worried about her neighbors while they all waited.

“I’m looking out for the elderly that’s out here. They gotta take medicines, the insulin shots,” she said. “We got food in these fridge. Who’s gonna replace the food? Everything going bad. Who can replace it? Who’s going to replace it?”

“Everybody be in their car,” said Jerry Williams. “Some people sleep in their cars, try to charge their phone, wasting their gas.”

AEP Ohio crews said they are working staggered 16-hour shifts to restore power as quickly as possible.

“We go after what we call critical infrastructure,” explained Dylan Brown, an operations manager for AEP Ohio. “First hospitals, urgent cares, fire, police departments and then go after areas with the biggest amount of customers out and work on those efforts until all customers restored.”

When power is restored, there’s relief.

“It’s a blessing for our power to be back on and give thanks for that,” Dawn said.

AEP Ohio plans to have all power restored on Friday.