Family Forum / Parenting / Mothers / July 2005

"These were powerful storms that did damage all over the place."

Of the 20,000 Cleveland Public Power customers who were without power
Tuesday night, 12,000 were back up by 9 p.m., said spokeswoman Shelley
Shockley.

She expected the rest would have their electricity restored by this morning.

Scott Schmelzer, general manager of the Holiday Inn on Lakeside Avenue
downtown, said he watched from his office window as the wind blew out
windows on parked cars and ripped a tree from the ground.

"I've never seen anything like it," Schmelzer said. "Those windows shattered
from the sheer force of the wind, nothing hit them at all. It was
unbelievable."

Elsewhere, downed wires, uprooted trees and minor flooding created headaches
for police and residents on both the East and West sides.

Lakewood police reported wires down, two elevators stuck and business
burglar alarms set off by the weather.

"It's general chaos as it always is when it storms in Lakewood," said police
Lt. Roger Warner.

In Euclid, police reported minor street flooding and weather related
fender-bender accidents on Interstate 90 during the evening rush hour.

No injuries were reported.

Northeast Ohio had suffered through two days of extreme heat before the
storms moved through.

Tuesday was the hottest day of the year so far at Hopkins, where the
temperature hit 95.

Swimmers trying to keep cool had to line up and take turns at Halloran Park.

"You can only allow so many at a time. That's for safety purposes," said
Marge Sweeney, who helps run the park on West 117th Street.

Sweeney blamed the crowding on the heat wave that has stretched across the
country and flamed out here Tuesday. "Come by tomorrow, and you'll see a
difference."

AccuWeather says the Cleveland area will have showers and thunderstorms
again early today, with a high of only about 74 degrees.

Thursday will be mostly sunny, with a high near 78.

The heat Monday and Tuesday also affected some nursing homes, said Michelle
LoParo of the Ohio Department of Health.

State health inspectors are investigating complaints about five nursing
homes, where temperatures may have exceeded the 81-degree limit.

None of the facilities under investigation are in Northeast Ohio, LoParo
said.

A 48-year-old woman in Cincinnati died of the heat. She is the first known
heat-related death in Ohio.

More than 37 people have died nationwide in this month's heat wave.

The Associated Press and Plain Dealer reporters Grant Segall, Susan Jaffe
and Thomas Quinn contributed to this story.

So was dh.  Luckily he got home with the girls before it hit, but ds
was stranded so dh went to pick him up and it hit hard while they were
out.

Nan