As storms continue, the toll and the tension mount

The third storm to hit the United States has been the most deadly.
Hurricane Ivan killed 70 people in the Caribbean and at least 23 along the Gulf Coast, most of them in Florida. Hurricanes Charley, Frances and Ivan have wreaked havoc on the Southeast United States, causing billions of dollars in damage, disrupting the lives of millions of residents.
The storms have also taken their toll here in the Mahoning Valley -- not as dramatically or as devastatingly as they have in the South, but they have taken a heavy toll.
The latest storm, Ivan, crashed into the Florida panhandle with 130 mph winds, snapping trees, downing power lines, even blowing away houses.
In the north, we are preparing for the aftermath of Ivan, which is likely to be the third series of floods in two weeks.
Storms on Aug. 28-29 and Sept. 8-9 dumped as much as 7 inches of rain in parts of the Mahoning Valley. Hardest hit was Columbiana County, where about 20 roads suffered damage of varying degrees. The state may have the resources to repair its routes, but local government is hard-pressed to take on such unanticipated expense.
Help is on the way
There is no minimizing the degree of suffering that this tropical storm season has brought to Florida and the Gulf states that have been hardest hit. Indeed, this area has joined much of the rest of the country in responding to the plight of hurricane victims by making donations to the American Red Cross disaster fund. Local teams of Red Cross workers have gone South, along with crews from Ohio utilities to help restore electricity and some sense of normalcy in the wake of the disasters.
But, where Florida was declared a disaster area before the winds from Hurricane Charley even subsided and President Bush declared Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana disaster areas yesterday, there has been no response from Washington to the pleas of Columbiana County for a disaster declaration.
Certainly Salem Township considers itself to have suffered a disaster-size loss. Damage to roads is estimated at more than twice the road department's annual budget and about the same amount as the township's entire annual budget. Local taxpayers can't absorb losses at those levels.
People whose homes were washed away in Lisbon are just as devastated as those whose homes were washed away in Florida.
While our hearts go out to those who have suffered the brunt of these hurricanes, we join U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland of Lisbon, D-6th, in wondering when Washington will look North.