Geauga County hit hard with snow, power outages as winter storm warnings continue

GEAUGA COUNTY, Ohio (WJW) — Thousands of people remain without power and are digging out from Tuesday’s blast of lake effect snow.

Primary roads remained slick Tuesday night, but passable while secondary roads were still treacherous despite snow plow crews working fully staffed around the clock.

In Chardon, some homeowners even became stuck in their own driveways for hours.

“The roads are plowed, but they still are impassable for most vehicles,” said Patrick Baker with Underwood’s Towing Inc., “We’ve been seeing multiple vehicles in ditches, hearing reports of trucks rolled over sliding off the road everywhere.”

Even massive semis are struggling with the blustery, icy conditions says Baker, who’s been working non-stop trying to get them back on the road.

“It’s very slippery if you don’t need to be out tonight you don’t need to go out,” said Baker.

Firefighters across the Geauga county are also urging people to stay home and in Chardon asking  residents to clean off their home addresses and mailboxes just in case there is an emergency.

That’s if they still have one.

“Supposedly I lost my mailbox today,” said George Corley, “I’m about to go see what the damage is really.”

Countless trees buckled beneath the weight of the heavy wet snow making for a much longer evening commute.

“I came from Shaker Heights and had to turn around, like, four times because of trees blocking the roads,” said Corley.

The snow, ice and trees also brought down powerlines. More than 50,000 people lost electricity including more than half of First Energy’s customers in Geauga county.

A spokesperson for First Energy says, they are bringing in extra help, but it could take days to fully restore service to all customers.

“Electricity’s been out so I’m gonna fire up the generator when I get home,” said Rick Bambauer, “It’s Chardon we get snow.”

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