Storms cause floods, spark factory blaze
Every classroom in a Hubbard middle school was flooded.
& lt;a href=mailto:slshaulis@vindy.com & gt;By SHERRI L. SHAULIS & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
Jason Cohol wanted to watch a little television during his dinner break to see what local stations were reporting about the heavy rains.
As he sat down to eat at Frankie's on North Main Street in Hubbard, he looked out the window.
"I saw a crowd gathering in my front yard and I knew it wasn't good," the East Park Avenue man said.
Sunday evening's downpour caused severe flooding throughout Hubbard, which was declared a disaster area by city leaders.
The Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Vienna recorded 1.3 inches of rain Sunday; Hubbard officials estimate much more.
Thunderstorms and heavy rains that battered the Valley Sunday night also closed roads, shut down a Girard aluminum plant and seriously hampered Youngstown firefighters' efforts to extinguish a fire at an East Side factory.
No serious injuries were reported.
Flooded basement
After walking to his Hubbard home, Cohol found his basement flooded with more than four feet of water.
Mud Run Creek, which runs between his home and the parking lot of St. Patrick's Church, overflowed its banks, forcing residents in the first four homes on either side of North Main Street to flee. St. Patrick's also was flooded.
The water rose several feet in minutes, turning streets into rivers and flooding buildings from downtown to the city limits.
Several youths were stranded at the Section Eight Skate Park and had to be rescued by city workers. No one was hurt, according to police.
Workers from the Trumbull County Engineer's Office monitored Mud Run Creek, making sure it didn't wash away bridges near the church. All vehicles and pedestrians were banned from crossing the structures for more than two hours.
Petula Loveless, who lives across the street, spent much of the evening with her husband and three children placing sandbags around the home of her mother- and father-in-law next door to try and save the archery shop in their basement.
"The water just kept coming in and a two-inch steel door just buckled," she said.
Fire crews helped the Loveless family and their neighbors from their homes along East Park Avenue, East Water Street and Myron Street on the city's north side.
A temporary shelter was set up in the Senior Citizens Center behind the city administration building on West Liberty Street.
State of emergency
Safety-service director Robert Paterniti said the north end of the city and township were hit the hardest. Many in those areas were still trying to recover from high waters that damaged businesses and roads last week.
"I heard police officers on the portable radio trying to find the chief to have him declare a state of emergency, and I radioed in and told them I was declaring it," Paterniti said.
Hubbard Mayor George Praznik said this morning he may lift the emergency today after surveying city streets.
Praznik said high water prevented workers from getting to the electric department. The sewage treatment plant was closed with sewage diverted into Little Yankee Creek.
Every officer in Hubbard city and township police department, all volunteer firefighters and all workers from the street and light departments were called out Sunday night to keep residents off the streets, rescue those stranded by the rising waters and assess the damage.
Reed Middle School on Hall Avenue was flooded with almost two inches of water, said Superintendent James Herrholtz.
"It's in the media center, in the halls, in the classrooms. We have [water] damage in every single room," Herrholtz said.
Herrholtz and volunteers worked into the wee hours of the morning trying to mop up the water and clean out the mud and debris.
Roads damaged
Several Hubbard Township roads were damaged by rushing waters. Township Trustee Fred Hanley said Youngstown-Hubbard Road at Fairlawn Avenue was closed when sections of the road washed away and a culvert collapsed on Bell Wick Road at Mount Everett Road.
North Main Street remained closed this morning, with high water from Drummond Avenue to Interstate 80, and the eastbound exit ramp from I-80 to Hubbard was closed.
Hubbard Township police said this morning Youngstown-Hubbard Road, at Logan Gate Road, and Bell-Wick Road, about a mile north of state Route 304, remained closed today.
Some residents went to the shelter in Hubbard, but were anxious to go back home rather than spend the night.
Joe Faiola, of East Water Street, said fire officials evacuated him from his home around 8 p.m. His wife, Donna, who was at work in Niles when the storms hit, said she rushed home to check on him because he's on oxygen.
"I pulled into the parking lot and there he was, standing outside with his oxygen next to him, wearing a garbage bag," she said. "He looked like Rambo."
The couple's basement filled with more than three feet of water, but they wanted to return to assess the damage.
Liberty Township officials also set up a shelter in Liberty High School for those from Liberty and Girard who were forced out of their homes.
Residents of Colonial Manor Nursing Home in Liberty also were evacuated.
Liberty Fire Chief Michael Durkin said 50 to 60 basements flooded.
"We've got some severe damage," Durkin said, calling attention to one home in which the basement was filled with water up to the first floor.
Six to 10 motorists were rescued from their vehicles.
Girard
A Girard dispatcher said flooding occurred throughout the city, but noted the deteriorated dam at Lower Girard Lake was holding up.
Indalex Aluminum Solutions on South State Street was shut down after the building was struck by lightning, sparking a fire about 7 p.m.
That led to several explosions and large flames as smoke billowed around the I-80 bridge at U.S. Route 422.
The fire department used its aerial unit to bring the blaze under control by 7:47 p.m.
Girard Fire Chief Kenneth Bornemiss said flood waters toppled basement walls in at least six homes and sent buckled road materials from side streets onto 422.
Weathersfield Township police chief Joseph Consiglio said that although all roads were open, he couldn't begin to count the number of flooded basements.
"It's bad." Consiglio said, noting the road department was pumping basements, with the most severe receiving priority.
The Red Cross, meanwhile, continues providing emergency assistance and mobile meals.
In Trumbull County, as of Sunday, the agency had helped more than 100 individuals and families, served more than 2,000 meals and distributed more than 300 clean-up kits consisting of mops, buckets and bleach.
Members of the outreach team at Believer's Christian Church in Warren have been cooking and distributing meals since Wednesday.
They are preparing about 1,000 meals a day at LaBrae High School in Leavittsburg, according to church member Mary Dobson.
East Side
On the East Side of Youngstown, high waters made it difficult for fire crews to get to a blaze at East Jordan Iron Works on Andrews Avenue.
Fire Chief John O'Neill said the building was destroyed.
The fire broke out around 9 p.m. Waters surrounding the building kept the flames from spreading but it also kept firefighters from getting to the building for a time.
The first firetruck to arrive had to be towed after it stalled in deep water.
"Whatever could go wrong for us, did," O'Neill said.
Mahoning County
Low-lying areas in Mahoning County, which were already reeling from last week's downpour, got hit hard again Sunday, said Walter Duzzny, the county's emergency management agency director.
A carport at Fox Run Apartments on North Raccoon Road in Austintown collapsed, damaging about 10 cars.
Mahoning County officials were to meet today with U.S. Reps. Ted Strickland of Lisbon, D-6th, and Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, to talk about getting assistance in having the county declared a federal disaster area.
If the Federal Emergency Management Agency declares the county a disaster area, people who had property damage as a result of the heavy rains and the tornado that touched down last week in Youngstown can receive financial assistance, Duzzny said.
Concert
In his hit song "Nellyville," rap music star Nelly contends he controls the weather and "the sun goin' shine 99 percent" of the time. Not the case Sunday night.
His performance at Cafaro Field in Niles was canceled.
Dominic Baragona, Mid-American events promoter, said the rapper's management was committed to rescheduling the event and would like to have it sometime in August if possible.
Refunds currently are not available.
Elsewhere
A McDonald woman was evacuated when her home began filling with water, said Sheila Cullins, corrections officer with the Trumbull County Sheriff's department.
All vehicles were ordered off the streets because of high water.
In Boardman, several houses were damaged by lightning. The damage at one home was estimated at $20,000.
Floodwaters forced road closings and evacuations of homes in the western part of Columbiana County.
As of this morning, state Route 172 in West Township and U.S. Route 30 in Hanoverton remained closed as the result of high waters produced by Sunday's downpours.
Homeworth and Georgetown roads near the crossroads community of Homeworth in Knox Township also were blocked by high water, a county sheriff's department spokesman said.
There were no figures available this morning on the number of people evacuated.
Those who didn't stay with friends or relatives were put up in shelters in Guilford Lake and at the Kent State University Salem Campus.
Pennsylvania
In Mercer County, there was flooding in Springfield, Pine and Shenango townships as well as West Middlesex Borough.
As of this morning, only Bedford Road in Shenango Township and Leesburg Station Road in Springfield Township remained closed.
Pennsylvania State Police said 11 Lawrence County roads remained
Contributors: Tim Yovich, Harold Gwin, Matt Bixenstine, David Skolnick, Vindicator staff writers.