Small town bands together to bring disaster relief

PAYNE, Ohio (WANE)-- Crews in Paulding County, Ohio are still picking up the pieces after Friday’s storm.  It’s been six days since folks in Payne have had electricity, but electric crews arrived Thursday.  Despite the devastation, the small town has come together to get through what residents call the worst natural disaster in recent memory.

Sights and sounds around Payne, Ohio serve as a constant reminder of what came through June 29.  There are a lot of trees and utility poles still down.

Thursday, power crews from Minnesota arrived.  They worked to fix downed utility poles to a thankful audience.

“Someone has to get their power on first and someone has to be last,” said Michele Harp, who didn’t have power or water in her Payne home.  “If we're getting toward the last we're still grateful.”

Leaders in Paulding County said it's been hit harder than surrounding counties.  Not only are there a couple different electric companies to work with, but lines have to be repaired in Putnam County before Paulding County can accept 100 percent of the workload.

The result for residents is a long wait for electricity.  The response by the Payne Fire Department has been a full-scale operation.

“We're feeding the community.  We are a cooling center due to the excessive heat here,” said Joseph Garmyn with the Payne Fire Department.  “We sleep here.  We eat here.  We do everything here.”

The department is one of the only sources of relief in the small town.

“I came to get water today,” said Payne resident Amanda Morehead.  “My mom came down earlier and got some sandwiches for lunch.  When my husband gets home from work he'll come get some ice so we can fill up some coolers and try to keep what we've got cold.”

Paulding County is expected to have 90 percent power by Saturday.  Until then, the small town is banding together to make sure the name of the town, isn't the experience.

As of 9:30 p.m. Thursday, AEP Ohio had restored power to approximately 84 percent of the 660,000 customers affected. Approximately 554,000 of the customers left without power June 29 now have service.

Leaders in Van Wert County say they should be at 100 percent by Saturday.

Click here to view AEP Ohio's outage map