Preparing for power outages

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) - The weather is constantly changing here in the Miami Valley.

Snow and temperatures in the sixties the same week.

Now, Dayton Power & Light is preparing for power outages.

"We go through all of our materials and supplies.  We have eight operational centers throughout the 24 counties that we serve.  We check every nut and bolt," explains Bruce Coppock.

You can expect sustained wind of 15 to 20 miles per hour and gusts of up to 45 miles per hour in parts of the Miami Valley Wednesday.

Based on the Beaufort Scale, that's strong enough to break branches, make cars veer off the road and cause problems walking.

That's why DP&L has all hands on deck.

"We'll have 200 between our call center operations, our engineering teams that evaluate all of those outages and then, of course, the dispatch teams who were with those 400 folks in the field," says Coppock.

It's also important that you plan ahead for power outages.

"From battery-operated radios, flashlights, obviously water, non-perishables, those kinds of things are very, very important.  The bigger and more important part of that is the safety of the customer and making sure that you stay away from downed power lines and assume a line, no matter how big or small has energy on it and then, call us.  We rely on information from our customers," says Coppock.

DP & L also has crews from other power companies on hand in the event of a massive power outage, like the one last June when more than 200,000 customers lost power.