Just under half of all Buckeye Rural Electric customers are without power as of 10 a.m. this morning.

Approximately 8,000 in the nine counties in the southeastern part of the state are affected by the snow and ice hitting the region, according to Debra Sword, Buckeye Rural spokesperson.

Both ice on the lines and falling trees are causing the outages, Sword said.

“As they work and think they getting back on, more trees are falling,” she said. “We have every available employee and crews working. We have outside crews coming in, both other cooperatives and contractors.”