The day after Hurricane Sandy made landfall in East Coast states, Ohio Emergency Management officials activated an emergency operations center in Columbus to help the agency monitor and assess Hurricane Sandy's impact on the Buckeye State. More than 250,000 Ohio customers were without power around noon on Tuesday, while a majority of schools in the northeast region of the state were closed, OEMA officials said. Meanwhile nearly 400 Department of Transportation crews worked to clear snow and debris throughout the state to reopen closed roads in Cuyahoga, Portage and Ashtabula counties. Gov. John Kasich visited the operations center Tuesday evening to discuss response efforts with OEMA officials. The agency has already dispatched three staff members to aid in New York's emergency response efforts and is sending the Butler County and Ohio Incident Management Teams to help, as well. Now a "post tropical" storm, Sandy has caused high wind, rain and snow throughout Ohio, as well as lake shore flooding. According to Accuweather.com, the storm dumped state highs of nearly 4.3 inches of rain in Lorain and 3.5 inches of snow in Bellefontaine. OEMA officials also encouraged residents to learn about weather preparedness and safety tips, in wake of the storm.