Local school districts decided en masse to cancel classes as the remnants of what was hurricane Sandy moved into the Akron area.
Power outages as of 10:30 p.m. were hitting Cuyahoga and Lorain Counties with the biggest punch with nearly 120,000 customers reportedly in the dark. Summit County, according to FirstEnergy, had more than 5,300 customers without electricity.
HERE'S the link to FirstEnergy's interactive map to track and report outages
So far the lone major highway impacted is Ohio Route 252 near Grafton Road when a tree fell on high power lines. Traffic was rerouted using Ohio Rt. 303 west to Route 83 and then to Route 82. The Cuyahoga River was reported at 13.5 feet at Valley View; flood stage is 16 feet.
Akron Public Schools was one of the first districts to cancel Tuesday classes. Superintendent David James tells AkronNewsNow why. " Just looking at the forecast we feel for our kids a majority of them who walk to school it will be safer if we didn't have school. There's a lot of concern about tree limbs falling, power lines could be down." James was concerned.
CHECK HERE for the latest list of school closings
James says the Ott Staff Development Center lost power early Monday evening and there was the possibility that other school buildings could lose power due to strong wind gusts.
He says there was also the possibility that Akron schools that did have power may have to be used as shelters should there be substantial power outages in the city.
Akron isn't the only district; schools including Barberton, Cloverleaf, Copley-Fairlawn, Coventry, Highland, Mogadore, Nordonia Hills, Norton, Revere, Tallmadge, Wadsworth and other districts also noted unsafe conditions posed a threat for students Tuesday morning.
(ODOT) State Route 252, near Grafton Rd. in Medina County, is closed due to a fallen tree on high power lines. Electric company and ODOT crews are en route to the scene. Detour for this area is SR 303 west to SR 83 north to SR 82 east to SR 252 and reverse for southbound motorists. Motorists are advised to use caution while driving in high wind and wet pavement conditions
