More than 6,300 Northern Kentucky customers remained without electricity as of Aug. 14, as Duke Energy raced toward an 11:59 p.m. deadline to finish restoring power knocked out by the Aug. 11 derecho. The utility's charitable arm announced $100,000 in emergency grants to help storm-battered families across the region.
The Duke Energy Foundation is directing $75,000 to Freestore Foodbank for food, water and other necessities; $15,000 to the American Red Cross for shelter and disaster recovery; and $10,000 to Matthew 25: Ministries in Blue Ash, Ohio, for hygiene kits, cleaning supplies and other relief materials, according to a company press release issued Aug. 13.
The grants cover Ohio and Kentucky communities served by Duke Energy. The company has not specified how much of the funding will reach Boone County specifically.
Amy Spiller, Duke Energy's Ohio and Kentucky president, said in the announcement that recovery extends beyond restoring electricity and that the grants will help nonprofits provide critical support to storm-impacted families.
Outage count dropping fast
As of 4 p.m. Friday, 6,376 Northern Kentucky customers were still in the dark, according to NKY Tribune. That is down from roughly 17,000 on Aug. 13. Across Greater Cincinnati, Duke crews have restored about 85% of the 261,000 outages caused by storms on Aug. 11 and Aug. 12.
Duke Energy set 11:59 p.m. Friday as its firm deadline to restore the remaining Northern Kentucky outages, as we reported Thursday.
The utility has deployed more than 2,000 lineworkers, tree trimmers and support staff, including crews from Indiana and the Carolinas, to finish the job.
Challenging conditions
Storm director Andy Cassidy acknowledged the difficulty of the work. "Our crews have made significant progress under extremely challenging conditions, but we still have substantial work ahead of us," Cassidy told WLWT on Aug. 13, when nearly 50,000 customers regionwide were still without power.
The count has plummeted since.
Workers have had to pause restoration at times when lightning and high winds from follow-up storms made conditions unsafe. Duke Energy prioritizes facilities that support public health and safety, such as hospitals and sewage treatment plants, before moving to residential neighborhoods.
What residents should know
Report downed power lines by calling 911 and Duke Energy at 800-543-5599. Customers can text "OUT" to 57801 to report an outage or text "REG" to 57801 to receive outage alerts.
Intersections with nonworking traffic signals should be treated as four-way stops.
