State of emergency declared in Erie County

PERKINS TWP. — Erie County commissioners on Wednesday declared a state of emergency stemming from last week's excessive flooding and resulting storm damage in various local areas. "We want to make sure we are taking every step to help those who were affected by this storm," commissioner Matt Old said. Added commissioner Pat Shenigo: "The amount of homes and businesses affected is unprecedented. We are hopeful that the state and feds can help us by declaring our area a disaster area and allow those affected some financial assistance." Commissioners relied on their main point person, emergency management director Tim Jonovich, to provide guidance before voting on this decision. "A state of emergency is declared when the county recognizes that it will need to utilize state and federal resources to help respond and recover from an emergency," Jonovich said. The last time Erie County declared an emergency occurred in March 2020 due to COVID-19. Back then, Erie County received about $4.7 million — but that happened, in large part, because the president also declared this a coast-to-coast disaster, earmarking dollars for communities nationwide. So what can such a declaration solely for Erie County deliver this time around? "Declaring a state of emergency is the first step in seeking state and federal resources for both recovery and future prevention and mitigation efforts," said Jonovich, who's unsure exactly how much Erie County could receive. "This also allows us to provide additional assistance to residents recovering from the storm damage." There are no cash payments available squirreled away in some county fund to help people for disasters such as this. "That type of individual assistance would need a state and federally declared disaster," Jonovich said. Officials continue to gather data on all items related to recent rainfall. It'll be needed to submit requests for funding. "We are currently conducting damage assessment and providing that information to the state of Ohio Emergency Management Agency," Jonovich said. "We recognize over 1,000 homes, apartments and buildings were affected by these storms." Officials want to apply for as many different funding sources as possible. This would include loans for small businesses affected by flooding. Those who need housing assistance and/or received more than 1 foot of flood water in their first-floor living areas or businesses can call the county emergency management agency at 419-627-6671. People, however, should know basements don't qualify for financial aid. Though county officials promise to help anyone in need, offering them guidance through these difficult times. "After seeing the devastation in parts of our county, we took this necessary step," Old said. "We hope this desecration will spur the state and federal government into action to help our community." Rain ravages region On Aug. 23-24, a record amount of rainfall drenched and drowned many places — homes, basements, lawns, businesses, streets, shelters and more — across the region. "During that time, 6 inches of rain was measured by the rain loggers," Sandusky public works director Aaron Klein said. "Of that total, 2.8 inches was received between 10:45 p.m. and midnight, meaning that this was a very severe portion of the storm." Many pipes couldn't handle the large amount of water pouring down in such a short time span. "When the intensity is so severe, at the onset of the storm, the sewers receive more water more quickly, which reduces their available capacity for the duration of the storm," Klein said. "The full event that occurred from 10:45 p.m. to 9 a.m. would be assigned a 500-year event, meaning that its probability of occurrence would be once every 500 years based on historical information of all recorded rainfalls with normal weather patterns," Klein said. "If we eliminate the 8-9 a.m. time period, the first 5.25 hours of the storm may have been larger than a 500-year event and possibly closer to a 1,000-year event," he added.