CINCINNATI — Power will be restored for a majority of Ohio and Kentucky residents by noon Friday, Duke Energy announced in a press release.
Around 7,000 customers are still without power as of 5:18 p.m. Friday after severe thunderstorms moved through the Tri-State region Wednesday afternoon. Duke Energy said residents in the hardest-hit areas will see a longer delay, likely until Sunday night.
More than 1,000 crews came in from hours away, working 16-hour shifts to clear trees, fix lines and assess damage.
"Utter devastation," Duke Energy spokesperson Sally Thelen said. "I think we'll certainly make great headway, as many as we can restore in the next 24-36 hours."
Crews in Goshen will need to rebuild the electric system after an EF2 tornado touched down.
"The storm ... destroyed numerous electric transmission and distribution facilities, including substations, utility poles, power lines and other key system components — all of which will need to be replaced, repaired or rebuilt before power can be restored to individual homes and businesses," the release said.
At the peak of outages, more than 100,000 homes were without power.
The storms came through beginning at 2 p.m., moving west from southeast Indiana into southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky with wind gusts of more than 70 miles per hour. The areas with the most outages were on the east side of Cincinnati and in northern Kenton and Campbell counties in Northern Kentucky.
An EF2 tornado reaching maximum wind speeds of 130 miles per hour hit Goshen, traveling more than two miles. An EF1 tornado also touched down in Lake Lorelei, roughly 15 miles east of Goshen.
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