Volunteers in boats rescue residents in flooded N. Ohio towns

A heat wave that followed the flooding is predicted to run through Friday.

FINDLAY, Ohio (AP) — Firefighters and a volunteer armada navigated boats through streets awash in waist-deep water Wednesday, plucking neighbors and their pets from porches after heavy downpours brought the city’s deepest flood waters in nearly 100 years.

Many rescuers showed up with canoes and kayaks wanting to help. Three men in a fishing boat ferried a mother and her 2-week-old daughter along with the family dogs.

“That was the catch of the day,” said Angel Sanchez, the baby’s neighbor.

The little girl didn’t make a peep, said Gene Lynn, one of the volunteer rescuers, but “the dogs were a little nervous.”

The historic flooding forced at least 500 people to evacuate their water-filled homes in several northern Ohio towns. Rising water forced authorities to move about 130 inmates from the county jail in Findlay to a regional prison. Many more residents left on their own.

The rain had subsided by midafternoon, and the National Weather Service predicted a heat wave would follow. The service issued a heat advisory through midnight Friday for much of northwest Ohio as well as southern and central regions of the state. Temperatures are expected in the upper 90s, with heat index values up to 104, the service said.

Schools, roads closed

Schools were closed and neighborhoods in some towns were cut off to outside traffic because so many roads and streets were under water.

People living on a few farms also had no way out.

Among the hardest-hit towns was Findlay, a city of about 40,000 people where flooding from the Blanchard River has always been a worry. But no one could remember anything like this.

The river was about 7 feet above flood stage Wednesday and could rise another half-foot or more from water draining out of creeks and farm fields, according to the National Weather Service.

About 150 evacuees filled an emergency shelter Wednesday. Inside, children played a bean bag toss game and parents sifted through a pile of donated clothes.

Steps away, Gov. Ted Strickland whispered words of comfort to Wendy Pocock and her husband. Their apartment has about a foot of water inside and everything is likely lost.

“You can’t replace pictures of Grandma,” she said.

Strickland declared states of emergency in Allen, Crawford, Hancock, Hardin, Putnam, Richland, Seneca, Van Wert and Wyandot counties in northwest and north-central Ohio.

There were no reports of deaths or serious injuries.

Disaster assistance of up to $1,500 will be available to eligible residents of those counties from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Federal aid also is likely, said Strickland, who had viewed Findlay from a helicopter.

“It’s devastating,” he said. Entire sections of the city were covered with water, Strickland said.

In most areas, the water poured into basements and lapped at the foundations and porches. The downtown area was hardest hit by the city’s worst flood since 1913.

About 5 feet of water swamped the downtown stores. “This is the most widespread it’s ever been,” said Mayor Tony Iriti.

What floated by

Four blocks from the river, milk jugs, garbage bags and soda cans floated in the murky brown water. Tom Woods brought his 8-foot fishing boat from nearby Risingsun to help float out stranded friends in the neighborhood.

“Once we got here everybody asked us to rescue more people,” he said.

Firefighters in a boat found two aquariums filled with two snakes and a lizard. “They kind of floated to us,” said Lt. Brian Herbert, a firefighter from Fostoria.

Homeowners in the neighborhood were more reluctant to get on the boat.

“A lot of people won’t leave,” he said. “Some we don’t give a choice.”

Heather and Shawn Carroccio wanted to stay even after waking up and finding their cars nearly submerged. “The kind rescuers persuaded us,” she said.

The couple along with their 4-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter carried with them a backpack of essentials, an Elmo book and a Slinky.

Emergency workers also were floating residents out of other nearby towns.

In Bucyrus, which received nearly 9 inches of rain since Monday, the Crawford County Department of Emergency Management estimated that at least 200 people were still displaced Wednesday. Some hoped to return later in the day if the water continued to recede, said agency director Tim Flock.

“Reality is starting to set in about just how much damage there is in some of the flooded areas,” Flock said.

Water levels were dropping in Carey, where more than 4 feet of water submerged the downtown Tuesday.

A nursing home remained closed and it will be several days before its 28 residents can return, said police Capt. Daniel Walter.

Near Bluffton both directions of Interstate 75, one of the nation’s main north-south thoroughfares, were reopened after they were closed for much of the day Tuesday.