As an Excessive Heat Warning covered most of Northeast Ohio for a second straight day, weather watchers were looking out for severe storms in the area as well.
The National Weather Service issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch until 7 PM for the entire Akron/Canton area, and a good chunk of Northeast Ohio.
A quick moving storm prompted a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Northern Summit County and Portage County - Summit County's warning didn't last long as the storm in question scooted through Portage County.
Ohio Edison outage maps are starting to light up, though just over 300 of the utility's Summit County customers are without power. AkronNewsNow staffers report outages in Goodyear Heights and east Akron, with other scattered outages in Barberton and Coventry Township.
UPDATE: Ohio Edison is now reporting just over 600 outages in Summit County as of 5:15 PM, the majority of those within the city of Akron.
The company has placed a message on the FirstEnergy power outage website: "Ohio Edison is experiencing power outages throughout our service territory. Crews are working to restore power to all affected areas as quickly as possible. Please, remember to treat all downed wires as live and dangerous."
Meanwhile, no one took advantage of the Cooling Center at the local American Red Cross chapter's main office on West Market Street on Saturday.
A spokesman for the Red Cross of Summit and Portage Counties tells AkronNewsNow that such a turnout, or lack thereof, isn't unusual.
The Red Cross says it's likely people headed for other air conditioned spots if they needed to cool off, such as malls, libraries or relatives' homes....where there are other things to do.
The Cooling Center was open until 4 PM Saturday afternoon.
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...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM EDT THIS EVENING... * HEAT INDEX VALUES...UP TO 112. * TIMING...THROUGH THIS EVENING. * IMPACTS...HEAT INDEX VALUES BETWEEN 105 AND 110 THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING WILL IMPACT OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES AND INDOOR FACILITIES THAT DO NOT HAVE AIR CONDITIONING...ESPECIALLY FOR SENSITIVE GROUPS. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... AN EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING MEANS THAT A PROLONGED PERIOD OF DANGEROUSLY HOT TEMPERATURES WILL OCCUR. THE COMBINATION OF HOT TEMPERATURES AND HIGH HUMIDITY WILL COMBINE TO CREATE A DANGEROUS SITUATION IN WHICH HEAT-RELATED ILLNESSES ARE LIKELY. DRINK PLENTY OF FLUIDS...STAY IN AN AIR-CONDITIONED ROOM...STAY OUT OF THE SUN...AND CHECK UP ON RELATIVES AND NEIGHBORS. TAKE EXTRA PRECAUTIONS IF YOU WORK OR SPEND TIME OUTSIDE. WHEN POSSIBLE... RESCHEDULE STRENUOUS ACTIVITIES TO EARLY MORNING OR EVENING. KNOW THE SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF HEAT EXHAUSTION AND HEAT STROKE. WEAR LIGHT WEIGHT AND LOOSE FITTING CLOTHING WHEN POSSIBLE AND DRINK PLENTY OF WATER. TO REDUCE RISK DURING OUTDOOR WORK THE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION RECOMMENDS SCHEDULING FREQUENT REST BREAKS IN SHADED OR AIR CONDITIONED ENVIRONMENTS. ANYONE OVERCOME BY HEAT SHOULD BE MOVED TO A COOL AND SHADED LOCATION. HEAT STROKE IS AN EMERGENCY-CALL 911.
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SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 478 IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 700 PM EDT FOR THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS OHC005-013-019-029-031-059-067-075-081-083-099-103-133-139-151- 153-155-157-169-072300- /O.NEW.KWNS.SV.A.0478.120707T1815Z-120707T2300Z/ OH . OHIO COUNTIES INCLUDED ARE ASHLAND BELMONT CARROLL COLUMBIANA COSHOCTON GUERNSEY HARRISON HOLMES JEFFERSON KNOX MAHONING MEDINA PORTAGE RICHLAND STARK SUMMIT TRUMBULL TUSCARAWAS WAYNE
