Wind keeps power company in place

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) - The wind and rain from what's left of Hurricane Sandy maybe blowing around plenty of things in the Miami Valley and across the country, but it won't budge Dayton Power and Light crews.

Despite the destruction predicted on the East Coast, they're staying here to deal with outages like the one Monday on Markey Road near Shiloh Drive where a tree fell on some lines and cut power to 190 people.

"First and foremost we take care of what's going on in the Miami Valley," says Bryce Nickel, Senior Vice-President of Operations with Dayton Power and Light.

Most days you can find Dayton Power and Light crews clearing trees from areas around from power lines, but the work has taken on more urgency with the high winds in the forecast.

"We ramp up pretty quickly when need be," Nickel says.

You won't find soap operas on the TV's in the company's command center, instead the supply of drama comes from the forecasts that fill the screens.

At the height of a storm 100 people will be answering calls and directing 400 workers to any outages.

Winds close to 50 miles per hour are expected, but to put that in perspective, June's derecho, which knocked out power to 75,000 people had winds of 80 to 90 miles per hour.

"We don't expect anything like that but we're on high alert," Nickel says.

Officials say you should be prepared as well.

"Make sure you have an emergency plan at home," Nickel says. "You've got bottled water. You've got food you can access. You've got flashlights and batteries."