Homes and roads flooded in Ohio

Most of the road closings were in northern Ohio.

CAREY, Ohio (AP) — Dozens of roads were closed, emergency workers rescued residents from homes, and school districts canceled classes Tuesday as several inches of rain flooded roads and sent riverbanks surging throughout northern Ohio.

Tim Pontius of Toledo was searching for side roads Tuesday afternoon after he ran into a road closure on northbound state Route 15 south of Findlay.

“They’re being a little bit vague about rerouting people,” said Pontius, who was heading home from Columbus. “This is really a mess.”

In northwest Ohio near Bluffton, both directions of I-75, one of the nation’s main north-south thoroughfares, were closed from early Tuesday until about 6 p.m., said Scott Varner, with the Ohio Department of Transportation.

Inspectors reopened the seven-mile stretch of the highway after removing debris and looking for road and bridge damage, he said.

As of 6:30 p.m., there were 30 road closures and 11 restricted roads, mostly in northern parts of the state, according to ODOT. Counties with significant flood-related closures included Allen, Crawford, Hancock, Richland, Sandusky and Wyandot, and some areas had restricted road travel to emergency vehicles only.

Deep, swirling waters

In the village of Carey, waist-deep water swirled through the tiny downtown, submerging cars to their rooftops. Dozens of flooded streets made it impossible to cross the town.

“There’s nowhere to send the traffic,” Police Capt. Daniel Walter said.

The Carey Nursing & Rehabilitation Center was evacuated Tuesday morning, said Wyandot County Lt. Neil Riedlinger.

At the end of a long block of flooded homes near downtown, Mike Watkins used a generator in an attempt to pump 4 feet of water out of his mother’s basement, clearly a losing battle. In front of his house, kids rode bikes through the knee-deep water and residents took pictures of their water-logged neighborhood as more water poured in from the overflowing Spring Run Creek at the center of the village.

“At least the kids are having fun,” Watkins said, who added that he had never seen flooding reach his block in his 52 years.

In Northeast Ohio, the Barberton Corps of The Salvation Army was sending emergency disaster vehicles and personnel to deliver food and bottled water to residents of the city in suburban Akron. The group planned to provide cleanup supplies on Wednesday.