Storm damage to power lines on the causeway

Pete's avatar

Most utility poles are wood, even new ones. I don't know where your wife works CPGuru, but in northern Ohio wood is the standard. Wood poles are also safer for cars, they fail better when hit and tend to cause fewer injuries to the occupants of the vehicle.


I'd rather be in my boat with a drink on the rocks,
than in the drink with a boat on the rocks.

What JUnderhill said regarding who maintains the power distribution system. As for CPGuru and the 'standard', your wife is an electrical engineer and not a Utility Lineperson. Regarding storm damage, utility companies just don't replace wooden poles with steel poles - not quite that simple.

All will be well. The damage and downed lines will be taken care of in the next couple of days at worst depending upon how significant and extensive the damage is elsewhere.

We-o-we-oooo's avatar

The government pays for our utility poles? I must have missed that memo.


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PyroKinesis09's avatar

There was more loss of life in this thread than in Sandusky today due to the storms.

RIP CPGuru.

PyroKinesis09 said:

There was more loss of life in this thread than in Sandusky today due to the storms.

RIP CPGuru.

Sorry, I went out for dinner. What did I miss? ;)

I still hold to my belief that with the new Ouimet (sp?) era, we'll be seeing an upgraded causeway, toll system, etc. otherwise anything to improve the flow, within their 5 year plan (or so they call it). Just look at all the work being done at Kings Island with the new tolls and current construction on the roads leading to, and exiting the park. You can find me here in 2022 to prove me wrong ;)

Last edited by CPGuru,

Ventured out to the park despite the weather reports for Brew & BBQ and if it wasn't for those down power lines the evening would've been gorgeous! I was actually hoping the afternoon storm would clear the park out for short lines, unfortunately it did a little too good of a job clearing the park. :/

We left after 4pm when I visited Guest Services and they confirmed Brew & BBQ was canceled. They refunded our tickets for the event and gave my parents (non pass holders) comp tickets to return. Handled very well I think by the park, no complaints at all how today was handled.

As of 5pm when we left for the day the park from about Valravn back was still down. Raptor, Carousel and Sky Ride were the only rides I saw in operation. Not sure if that was the only corner of the park to not lose power or not. Gatekeeper and Wicked Twister midway did not reopen before we left and obviously the whole park closed at 7pm due to the outage.

We were on the top steps for Valravn when the storm hit. We were completely sheltered but still got pretty wet because the rain was blowing in sideways. However, that was nothing compared to the poor riders that were trapped on the two full trains still out on the track. They were completely drenched and freezing.

The temperature dropped around 15 degrees in a matter of seconds. They were sitting ducks, locked in with nowhere to go. I assume it was due to the power outage. Most of them were stuck out in the downpour for at least 45 minutes. Before I got out of line, I saw at least 2 people being attended to by paramedics.

There were around a dozen or so maintenance, employees, and ems that had to remove each rider one by one after the stom subsided. To remove them, they had to build metal planks in front of their seats, and handrails for the front row for each of them to exit. It took over a half hour or more to remove them all. Hopefully they are all OK

In regards to the wood power pole conversation...

Last week a car completely took out a power pole on my parents street. This knocked out power to about 400 houses in the area. The power company had a new wooden pole in place and power restored in about 5 hours.

I would assume with a customer the size of Cedar Point the same can be expected. I would think power will be fully restored and most of the park back to normal operation by opening tomorrow.

^ Yup, it is quicker, safer, and cheaper to install wood poles. If they had been steel more likely than not the concrete footers and/or anchorage bolts would have been damaged. In that case instead of making people wait more than a week for repairs to be completed they would have simply drilled and set a wooden pole.

Aaronosmer's avatar

Ohio Edison is saying 35 power poles were knocked down on the Causeway.

https://twitter.com/ohioedison/status/739604214133972993

Pete's avatar

My boat has had power for awhile now. Don't know if the entire park is restored but I am going to head over to Friday's at Breakers and see if they are open to watch the Cavs game.


I'd rather be in my boat with a drink on the rocks,
than in the drink with a boat on the rocks.

malem's avatar

The park will be CLOSED tomorrow, Monday, June 6.

From cedarpoint.com:

As a result of the severe wind damage to power lines and poles on the Cedar Point Causeway, and the lack of adequate power to operate rides at full capacity, Cedar Point and Soak City will not open on Monday, June 6. Crews from Ohio Edison are working diligently to repair Causeway power lines as quickly as possible. We anticipate we will reopen on Tuesday, June 7.

Paisley's avatar

Well when Ohio Edison replaces the 35 poles we'll find out if wood is still standard enough. My gut feeling says dead trees are still in fashion but we shall see.

XS NightClub's avatar

I'm sure dead trees will be there Tuesday.

It'd take much longer to install the 'invincible' steel poles.


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Paisley said:

Well when Ohio Edison replaces the 35 poles we'll find out if wood is still standard enough. My gut feeling says dead trees are still in fashion but we shall see.

I think we can all agree that in the short amount of time they're dealing with, they will go with wooden posts. Steel posts will require planing, replacing footers, etc. They'll need a full off season to do that assuming they ever go that route.

All arguments aside, let me raise one question for everyone: How much lost profit due to tomorrow's closure could have been prevented had Cedar Point's infrastructure had underground running cables and not wooden power lines? Really, just wondering what that number would be because I'm not very familiar with the industry.

Last edited by CPGuru,

I feel bad for people that planned a trip and the park is closed because of a storm.

malem said:
The park will be CLOSED tomorrow, Monday, June 6.

From cedarpoint.com:

As a result of the severe wind damage to power lines and poles on the Cedar Point Causeway, and the lack of adequate power to operate rides at full capacity, Cedar Point and Soak City will not open on Monday, June 6. Crews from Ohio Edison are working diligently to repair Causeway power lines as quickly as possible. We anticipate we will reopen on Tuesday, June 7.

Where did you get this message on Cedar Point's website malem? I have tickets, parking, and fast passes printed for tomorrow and searched the site for park hours, but never got that message, I would like to be sure before I take my 3 hour trek to Sandusky... can anyone help me out, I am planning on heading out at 6:30 a.m. so any news before will hell, I check pointbuzz all the time anyway so a quick double check in the am before I head out wouldn't be a huge deal out of my day lol


"Raptor will turn you upside down 6 times in 4 different ways, that's more than Maverick, Millenium Force, and Top Thrill Dragster combined!!!"

It pops up when you first get to the site. It is also on Cedar Point's Twitter

Pete's avatar

Odd because the entire park seems to have power now. Maybe they don't have full capacity on the electrical service. But, I'm at TGIFridays at Breakers now and everything seems normal.


I'd rather be in my boat with a drink on the rocks,
than in the drink with a boat on the rocks.

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