The Observation Deck

Hi all,

This is to my fellow Lakewoodites whose power is still out. I called City Hall a couple of hours ago and was told by a very nice person on the phone that I couldn't expect the power to be on until tomorrow.

I said, "For real? Like we should be looking for alternative lodging tonight if we have no heat in our houses for our children?" And she said, "Yeah." "And should I find a new location for the food in my fridge?" She responded in the affirmative to this also.

Our power has been out since around 2 AM last night.

So-- right now my husband has the grill going in the garage to get rid of the food before it gets rid of itself. We're crossing our fingers about the food in the freezer.

I asked if she knew about whether Lakewood schools would be closed and she said she'd been trying to call the schools all day but hadn't reached them and didn't know. She asked me to call her back if I heard anything.

So-- Get out the grills! Do jumping jacks with your kids until everyone is warm and have everyone get immediately under the covers. Or drop in on friends-- you know who you are-- and sleep in their living rooms with your sleeping bags. Everyone can eat popcorn and sing songs.

Betsy Voinovich

Also: If your power is out and you haven’t reported it, DO IT! Call the FirstEnergy Outage Reporting line: (888) 544-4877.

Betsy,

I am not sure if you have an older hot water boiler like so many in Lakewood have, but if you do, you can generally power it with a simple power inverter connected to your car. It is actually a simple process if you are willing to disconnect your furnace at a junction box, if it is not directly wired to your main panel.

Most stores actually sell inverters powerful enough to run both your boiler and your refrigerator.

If you don't have the old school heating then you are probably out of luck for heat but you could still run your fridge, most only require 400 or so watts from what I remember.

Good luck!