The Mid-Ohio Valley escaped major damage as the remnants of Hurricane Sandy blew through the area Monday and Tuesday.
But it's a different story in New York City where Waterford native Jessica Kelley and husband, Ian, are among millions who will be dealing with the aftermath of the superstorm for weeks, if not months, from now.
Jessica's mother, Jane Offenberger, of Waterford, said her daughter remained stranded with fellow workers at the Newsday offices on Long Island Tuesday.
"I talked to her this morning, and she said they probably wouldn't get home for at least two more days. She's been at work since 5 a.m. Monday," Offenberger said late Tuesday afternoon.
Offenberger said Jessica, 26, produces online video for Newsday, and she has lived in New York for the last three years.
"They live in a small apartment on Long Island, but no one is allowed on the roads in that area yet," Offenberger said. "Her husband, Ian, is at home-he's OK. The bank where he works was closed due to the power outage."
She said the couple's apartment is located on the second floor, away from any water damage, but Ian said the 90 mph hurricane winds tore out a fence that surrounded a pool at the apartment complex.
Offenberger said access to food was already becoming a problem for Jessica and the others at Newsday.
"She hadn't eaten all day, and all of the local restaurants and food stores are closed," she said, but noted there is some electrical power available as the Newsday office has generators.
Offenberger said employees can also communicate with the outside world.
"They've been charging cell phones from their car batteries," she said.
It could be at least four days before the city's train and subway systems are operational, and power is not expected to be restored for about 10 days.
"If she can just get home she should be all right," Offenberger said. "But the bridges and tunnels are all shut down for now, which makes getting around difficult."
She said Jessica, a Fort Frye High School and Marietta College graduate, loves New York City and always wanted to live there.
"Now she calls the city home," Offenberger said.
Locally the wind and rain kicked up by remnants of Hurricane Sandy left nearly 800 area residents without electricity Tuesday morning, but American Electric Power Ohio and Washington Electric Co-op officials said most of that power was restored by late Tuesday.
Both companies also expect to send some crews into other states that were more heavily impacted by the massive storm.
AEP Ohio spokesman Jeff Rennie said approximately 677 customers were without power Tuesday. About 416 of those were restored by 11:30 a.m., and the rest were back on line by 2 p.m.
Areas affected included Reno, Porterfield, Little Hocking, Newport and Waterford in Ohio, and the Paden City area in West Virginia.
"We have everything pretty much cleaned up," Rennie said late Tuesday afternoon. "And we're sending a total of 72 employees from this area to assist Appalachian Power crews in Virginia and West Virginia. Both of those states were hit hard by the storm."
He said some of the Ohio workers would also be sent to help crews from Kentucky Power, another AEP affiliate.
Ken Schilling, general manager and CEO of Washington Electric Cooperative, said two crews worked overnight Monday on 11 outages that had been reported by 9:30 p.m.
"But we started (Tuesday) morning with fresh crews and little over 100 outages," he said. "Most of those were in Noble County. But there were some east of Marietta and in the Lowell area, too."
Schilling said about 50 of the Tuesday outages had been taken care of by 10 a.m.
"Most of the outages were foliage-related due to trees or limbs located near the power line right of way," he said.
Crews from the Washington Electric Co-op could also be called to assist cooperatives in other states, including Pennsylvania, eastern West Virginia, Virginia, and New York, Schilling said.
"But we're committed that all of our co-op crews will stay to complete work in Ohio before going to other areas," he added.
Weather concerns put schools in the Fort Frye Local school district on a two-hour sdelay Tuesday, and one facility, Salem-Liberty Elementary, was closed due to a power outage. Electricity was restored there by noon.
Noble Local Schools were also placed on a two-hour delay Tuesday as a precautionary measure.
Beverly Paisley of the Lower Salem area said there were a couple of tense moments when the power flickered off at her home on Monday night and early Tuesday morning.
"The power went on and off a couple of times, but nothing major," she said. "And if it had stayed off we still had natural gas for the stove burners."
Paisley said following the June 29 derecho wind storm the power was off at her home for nearly two weeks.
"A few months after that we bought a small generator, just in case," she said. "It would at least help keep our freezer running."
Sheri Schwartz, executive director of the Washington County Chapter of the American Red Cross, said the agency didn't respond to any weather-related issues Monday night or Tuesday, and the local chapter currently has no one available to join relief efforts in other states affected by the storm.
"But 14 people and an emergency response vehicle have been dispatched over the last couple of days to the New York and New Jersey areas from our Southeast Ohio central district," she said.
Countywide there wasn't much damage, except for the power outages, according to Jeff Lauer, emergency management coordinator for Washington County.
"Other than the outages I've had no other reports about storm damage," he said. "But the wind did make firefighting difficult during a fire on Stanleyville Road early Tuesday morning. The winds seemed to be coming from all directions."
Lauer said the storm should be a good reminder for county residents to stay prepared for such emergencies.
"We dodged a bullet this time. We were very fortunate," he said. "But there will be another disaster in this area-it's just a matter of when it will occur. People shouldn't wait until it hits. they need to get prepared now."
