Day 5: Power Still Out for Many in Lakewood

On the fifth day of power outages in Lakewood, those still in the dark following Monday’s “superstorm” are growing “frustrated and angry.”

Mayor Michael Summers, who’s been fielding many of those phone calls from residents who are still without power, says he understands their concerns.

“This takes time,” he said. “It’s very slow process.”

Thousands have regained their power since crews aggressively began repairing the downed lines on Wednesday.

However, on Friday night, 3,670 residents were still in the dark, according to the FirstEnergy outage map.

“People who don’t have power now are very frustrated and very angry,” Summers said. “And I understand that. There’s some complicated reason — probably some kind of backyard problem, like a blockage in the line.”

He said secondary crews are combing backyards throughout the city looking for the remaining issues.

The outage issues have even reached the football field. St. Edward High School's first-round playoff game slated for Saturday was moved to Byers Field in Parma because of the electrical issues at Lakewood Stadium.

On Friday morning — just hours before county executive Ed FitzGerald held a press conference at Lake Road and Cove Avenue — the lights went on in the densely populated Gold Coast neighborhood.

Once Lake Road was reopened, a trail of the storm’s wreckage was revealed along the street. Several towering trees were uprooted and unearthed.

Large tree limbs were broken and debris covered some of the sidewalks.

Among the neighborhoods still without electricity are Richland Avenue; Lewis and Chesterland avenues south of Franklin Boulevard; Homewood Avenue; Grace and Cohassett avenues; and a “big chunk of real estate north of Lake Road.”

However, FirstEnergy has told the mayor — and reported on its website — that all power may not be restored in Lakewood until Monday night.

Those without power are encouraged to call FirstEnergy’s outage hotline every four hours at 888-544-4877.