DAYTON -- Wind gusts up to 50-miles-per-hour hit the Miami Valley Thursday afternoon.
DP&L crews have been gearing up for this big winter storm for three days.
The gusty winds reminded some people about previous storms that caused outages in the past.
"This past spring when we had the high winds it went out for a while," said Jerry Baker.
While he shopped at Ace Hardware in Centerville, ha talked about how his power was out for several days.
"As it got longer we put the stuff in our coolers at home," he said.
Calls for outages started coming in to DP&L around 2:00pm Thursday.
But Bruce Coppock, Director of Operations for DP&L, says there's no need to worry.
"Beginning this evening, we've doubled our staffing for our second and third shifts," he said, "And then tomorrow we'll have over twice our normal staffing for Friday."
DP&L crews have also been out trimming branches that hang over power lines, to help limit the outages.
But Coppock says, not all can be prevented.
"Probably going to see some trees that fail and when that happens there's probably going to be some wires down," he said.
What else can come down, Christmas decorations.
So a little advice from someone who experienced gusty winds in the past.
"Just make sure everything you have is secure, you don't want it to blow around," said Baker.
If you need to report an outage, call 877-4OUTAGE. And remember, if a line is down, assume it's live and stay away.
DP&L crews have been gearing up for this big winter storm for three days.
The gusty winds reminded some people about previous storms that caused outages in the past.
"This past spring when we had the high winds it went out for a while," said Jerry Baker.
While he shopped at Ace Hardware in Centerville, ha talked about how his power was out for several days.
"As it got longer we put the stuff in our coolers at home," he said.
Calls for outages started coming in to DP&L around 2:00pm Thursday.
But Bruce Coppock, Director of Operations for DP&L, says there's no need to worry.
"Beginning this evening, we've doubled our staffing for our second and third shifts," he said, "And then tomorrow we'll have over twice our normal staffing for Friday."
DP&L crews have also been out trimming branches that hang over power lines, to help limit the outages.
But Coppock says, not all can be prevented.
"Probably going to see some trees that fail and when that happens there's probably going to be some wires down," he said.
What else can come down, Christmas decorations.
So a little advice from someone who experienced gusty winds in the past.
"Just make sure everything you have is secure, you don't want it to blow around," said Baker.
If you need to report an outage, call 877-4OUTAGE. And remember, if a line is down, assume it's live and stay away.
