{"id":50635,"date":"2026-03-23T19:14:50","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T23:14:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/?p=50635"},"modified":"2026-03-23T19:14:52","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T23:14:52","slug":"paulding-putnam-restores-power-to-3k-after-severe-weekend-storm-grateful-for-member-patience-community-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/paulding-putnam-restores-power-to-3k-after-severe-weekend-storm-grateful-for-member-patience-community-support\/","title":{"rendered":"Paulding Putnam Restores Power to 3K After Severe Weekend Storm \u2013 Grateful For Member Patience & Community Support"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Transformers are not impervious to wind and storms. This one caught fire and burned the pole as power shorted from damage.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Paulding Putnam has largely restored power to around 3,000 members following a powerful straight-line wind event that began Friday afternoon, March 13, 2026, and continued through Monday morning, March 16. The storm, which brought gusts up to 77 mph across Ohio, caused widespread damage \u2014 one of the toughest faced since 2012\u2019s derecho.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ohio electric cooperatives saw power outages climb over 83,000 by Friday night, and more are still without power at other utilities across the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At peak, there were 41 electric outages across Paulding Putnam\u2019s seven-county service territory \u2014 from Allen County, Indiana, to Putnam County, Ohio. Roughly half of these outages stemmed from AEP transmission issues, notably impacting areas like Ottoville and Antwerp. Paulding Putnam crews documented 40\u201350 broken poles, countless downed trees, and even a transformer oil fire. Winds remained relentless over four days, making restoration challenging but never deterring the co-op\u2019s commitment to safety and swift recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paulding Putnam\u2019s small but dedicated team worked around the clock in rotating shifts, prioritizing safe, efficient repairs. Members saw linemen in action, but dispatchers also worked behind the scenes, managing outages, coordinating crews, and making decisions in a high-stress environment to ensure crews were safe. According to the co-op, \u201cthe top priority is making sure every employee and contractor goes home safe at the end of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clean up and inspections will continue this week, and crews are ready for continued support if weather conditions worsen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paulding Putnam extends its deepest thanks to everyone who made this restoration possible, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Mutual aid crews and contractors, including Frankart Power Line Services, Tricounty Rural Electric Cooperative, and North Western Electric Cooperative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Local police, fire, and EMS personnel who managed traffic and responded to hazardous situations with professionalism and care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Community partners who kept our crews fueled and fed, especially Millie’s Cafe in Ottoville and the Schlatter Family. Your kindness meant the world during long, difficult hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThank you to all members for your extraordinary patience and understanding during this frustrating time,\u201d said Randy Price, Paulding Putnam President and CEO. \u201cWe know power outages disrupt daily life, and we truly appreciate how our community came together with calm and support. While restoring power quickly is always our goal, safety comes first, and I’m incredibly proud of our team for working long hours in tough conditions without losing sight of that commitment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a member-owned cooperative, Paulding Putnam remains committed to serving its members reliably and safely. If any member still experiences issues or has concerns, please call the office at 800-686-2357 or visit www.PPEC.coop.Please note that SmartHub is the quickest way to report future power outages and receive alerts, plus make online payments, monitor energy use, and more. Download the free SmartHub mobile app or create an account online by clicking the green SmartHub button on our website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paulding Putnam is a local electric and internet cooperative serving nearly 14,000 members in Paulding, Putnam, Defiance, Van Wert, and Allen counties in Ohio, and Adams and Allen counties in Indiana. Since 1935, our not-for-profit model has allowed us to provide affordable, reliable, safe power and high-speed fiber internet to rural areas with pride. Learn more at www.PPEC.coop.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paulding Putnam has largely restored power to around 3,000 members following a powerful straight-line wind event that began Friday afternoon,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":50636,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[14779,28450,12722,12098,1995,17061,28451],"class_list":["post-50635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-allen-county-indiana","tag-march-13-2026","tag-paulding-county-ohio","tag-paulding-putnam-2","tag-ppec","tag-putnam-county-ohio","tag-severe-storm-damage"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Active-fire-Paulding-Putnam-outage-.jpg?fit=666%2C888&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2YQd9-daH","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-21 23:14:38","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50635"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50637,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50635\/revisions\/50637"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}