Power outages, fallen limbs and debris of all sorts awaited residents of North Central Ohio on Tuesday morning after two severe storms swept the region overnight.

It was a concerning blow ahead of temperatures that were forecast into the high 90s with a heat index expected to reach as much as 104.

Whether or not a derecho or a tornado had accompanied the thunderstorm was still not determined by late Tuesday morning, according to Brian Mitchell, a meteorologist with the Cleveland office of the National Weather Service.

"We're still looking at the reports," he said. "We still haven't made a full determination on things yet."

What was clear, though, was that the the southern portion of Richland County was hit harder than anywhere else in the region, according to Joe Petrycki, director of the Richland County Emergency Management Agency.

As of 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, as many as 45% of the county's residents were still without electricity.

"Parts of our county have sustained multiple downed lines, downed trees," Petrycki said. "We have quite a few blocked roads spread throughout the county."

Electrical service providers were pulling in crews from out of state in an attempt to restore power before the high temperatures entered the region Tuesday afternoon.

Severe weather:So, your power goes out. What happens to the food in your refrigerator and freezer?

The EMA director said hospitals and nursing homes were "holding steady" as they cared for their patients — all had electrical service as of late Tuesday morning.

"They seem to be doing well," Petrycki said.

No major injuries had been reported as of late Tuesday morning, the EMA director said, although the storm had sent a few people to the hospital.

A similar story of power outages and extreme damage was echoed a few miles away by Mark Rafeld, the EMA director in Ashland County.

There were 18,000 residents without electricity in Ashland County early Tuesday, but at least a few had their power restored by lunchtime.

"At this point, we're unsure who might have power and who might not," Rafeld said.

He said the worst damage had been reported in the northern reaches of Ashland County.

"It looks really horrific, but it was just a really bad wind storm," Rafeld said. "It doesn't really meet tornado criteria because everything is lying in one direction."

Residents there estimate that gusts exceeded 70 miles per hour.

"I have a report of a camping trailer being picked up and then set back down again," Rafeld said. "It was damaged severely."

In the southern portion of the county, residents near Loudonville were waiting for a visit from the National Weather Service. The plan was to visit Mohican State Park to see whether a tornado had touched down.

"There is the potential for some tornadic activity last night," Rafeld said. "We're getting reports down in the forest of major damage."

Statewide, AEP said crews have restored power for around 10,000 customers as 145,000 remained without electricity as of early Tuesday afternoon.

In Galion, city officials said widespread outages remained in the Hessenauer subdivision as well as the area of First, Second, and Third avenues.

"We are aware of additional isolated outages throughout town and crews will continue working until power is fully restored," the city said in a news release.

Numerous offices and business were closed Tuesday.

Richland Public Health closed for the entire day because of a power outage, according to Shannon Nelson, a spokesperson for the organization.

"We encourage residents to watch for downed power lines and tree branches," Nelson said. "With high temperatures expected today, please check on your neighbors, especially those in the elderly population or with underlying health conditions."

Richland County Commissioners canceled their Tuesday meeting because of a power outage at the county courthouse.

Commissioners also chose to activate the county Emergency Operations Center at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

"There are a substantial number of downed trees and power lines making travel throughout the county difficult," commissioners said in a news release. "Much of the county is without power and crews are working to clear the roads and restore power as fast as possible. There is no timetable for power restoration at this time. Please use extreme caution should you have the need to travel throughout Richland County."

In Ashland County, Ohio 60 was closed Tuesday morning south of County Road 30A.

Malabar Farm State Park canceled all tours and closed its gift shop Tuesday because of a power outage, according to a news release.

"Please be careful if you planned a day of picnicking or hiking here," the news release reads. "Lots of trees down and the roads are impassable."

The first wave of the storm hit the region about 11 p.m. Monday with a heavy wall of wind.

"The first line, there was an estimated 70 mile per hour gust," Mitchell said. "The highest measured was a 66 mile per hour gust in Findlay."

The first storm spurred tornado warnings through North Central Ohio, but left little rain.

The second storm blasted through the region a few hours later, picking up energy as it traveled and leaving rain and destruction in its path.

There was a flash flood warning released for Richland County at 4:03 a.m.

"There was a 61 mile per hour gust at the Mansfield airport at 3:52 a.m.," Mitchell said.

Ashland and Marion each also recorded gusts of 61 mph.

Early rainfall totals were not complete, but the weather service had initial reports of 1.2 inches in Bucyrus, 2.4 inches in Plymouth and 2 inches in Bellville.

Those numbers were expected to continue climbing throughout the morning.

Bucyrus police had a busy night, with trees reported down all over the city. Several brought down power lines, said Capt. Tom Walker, the department’s public information officer.

"There were some trees on cars," he said.

There was "quite a bit of damage" across the city, he said Tuesday morning.

"I’d say there’s probably five streets closed right now, four or five, due to trees being across them," Walker said. "Some of the trees hit power lines on the way down and they snapped poles, if that gives you any indication of hour high the winds were — they were definitely gusting pretty high."

A tree fell on a house in the 300 block of Wiley Street, he said, but caused no apparent structural damage. In the 1000 block of Tiffin Street, a tree fell on a mobile home.

"It looks like there may be some damage to the aluminum and the siding; I don't know if there's any actual intrusion into the house," Walker said.

Most of the damage was done by the first line of storms that went through a little after 11 p.m. Monday, Walker said. The second line hit a little after 3 a.m. Tuesday. By then, city crews were already out removing trees and cutting limbs to reopen streets, he added.

Jette Cander, director of Crawford County Emergency Management Agency, said damage across the county was "minimal other than trees."

Several county roads remained closed Tuesday morning because of downed trees, particularly in the area of Ohio 98 and Ohio 96.

"But nothing of significance," she said.

High water was reported near Brokensword — an area that’s prone to flooding, she said. Signs were posted.

"I know it sounds boring, but I’m glad," she said. "We have some still without power, but only one home needing oxygen. Nothing too significant."

According to its website, AEP was dealing with small outages all across Crawford County that affected anywhere from a few to a few hundred customers.

Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum reporter Gere Goble contributed to this report.