Flooding leaves severe damage

Much of Ohio is under a heat advisory, with temperatures to reach the high 90s.

FINDLAY, Ohio (AP) — Peeking into her waterlogged basement, Gail Leatherman didn’t break down until she saw a soggy photo of her and her husband, taken for their 17th wedding anniversary.

She salvaged the picture, but not her treasured Christmas decorations. Next door, her son lost all of his 1-year-old boy’s winter clothes.

And that wasn’t the worst of it.

“A year ago, our insurer told us we could drop our flood insurance,” she said. “So we did.”

Water from the worst flood in nearly a century in this northwest Ohio city began receding Thursday, allowing homeowners to get a look at the soaked photo albums, boxes of clothes and furniture in their basements.

Flooding that swamped streets, homes and highways in northern Ohio was repeated this week as a storm system hit the Upper Midwest and remnants of Tropical Storm Erin swept Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri. At least 26 people died, and thousands of homes were severely damaged or destroyed. In one Ohio county alone, the count was more than 700 homes.

Late Thursday, Gov. Ted Strickland ordered about 20 soldiers from the Ohio National Guard to assist authorities in Shelby with traffic control and security.

The severe weather threat wasn’t over.

Heat advisory

Another storm system was moving over Iowa and southern Minnesota on Thursday, and much of Ohio was under a heat advisory, with temperatures expected to hit the upper 90s. In the southwest corner of the state, Cincinnati schools closed because of the heat for the first time in at least 10 years.

In Findlay, hundreds of residents were making their way home a day after firefighters and volunteers in boats and canoes navigated waist-deep water to rescue people and pets. Generators hummed as residents pumped out water; it was too soon to start cleaning up the debris.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and R. David Paulison, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, toured the flood damage Thursday afternoon, including the downtown area that was still flooded in spots. Federal officials will begin assessing the damage Saturday, starting the process necessary before federal aid can be provided, Paulison said.

“We’re going to move with as much speed as possible,” Chertoff said.

He said the damage was on a scale that no one would have expected.

“You have to thank God people didn’t lose their lives,” he said.

During the tour, Chertoff talked with a few folks in a line to fill out applications for state aid.

He told Devin Lucius, whose house had about a foot of water inside, “Hang in there; at least you’re safe.”

Lucius told Chertoff, “Hopefully the house ain’t totaled.”

Some residents were still stuck in a shelter where 200 people slept Wednesday night. They were among those who had a foot or more of water in their homes.

John Treece could wade to only within a block of his home and saw water still covering the porch. His basement flooded in January, but it was nothing like this.

“We thought that would be the worst-case scenario,” Treece said.

He and his wife didn’t have insurance. “Financially, we couldn’t afford it,” he said. “I’m out of work.”

Little financial aid

Most homeowners’ insurance policies do not cover flood damage. Though flood insurance is available through the federal government, there is a 30-day waiting period before it takes effect.

Flood victims may apply for state aid, limited to a maximum of $1,500 per family in areas deemed to be in a state of emergency. Strickland had declared nine Ohio counties to be in a state of emergency. Federal aid also is available if the president declares an area a disaster.

Pam Deal, whose house was still unreachable, didn’t have insurance either.

“We lost everything in my daughter’s room,” she said. “Her bed, her clothes. She loves her clothes.”

The city of 40,000 people is a mix of factories and small businesses and home to Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.

In a neighborhood a few blocks from the Blanchard River, water pumped out of homes rushed down the streets.

Leatherman put together a makeshift contraption of plastic tubes and hoses to draw water from her basement. She and her husband will likely drain their retirement savings to replace the furnace and water heater.

On her porch sat an inflatable pool that her son turned into a raft a day before.

The unmistakable stench of sewage rose from her basement.

“We’re not alone in this,” she said as sweated dripped from her glasses in the 90-degree heat. “Everybody’s suffering.”

Floodwater still filled a few downtown stores near the river. At Uncle Buck’s bar, Larry MacKenzie carried out 16-foot planks from a wooden floor that had just been put in a few years ago.

Water rose through a crawl space, buckling the floor inside the Mardi Gras-themed bar. A Hurricane Katrina souvenir T-shirt hung on the wall.

The damage surprised MacKenzie, who was helping the bar’s manager with the cleanup.

“I was thinking it would take only a few days,” he said. “But it may be a couple of weeks.”