Storms nail already-soaked Ohio

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Storms slammed rain-soaked Ohio again Saturday as Gov. Ted Strickland toured flooded areas of north-central Ohio and said he would seek help from the federal government after damage is assessed.

Tornado and thunderstorm warnings were issued during the late afternoon for areas of central and southeast Ohio, which had been spared from the storms of the previous weekend.

The National Weather Service’s Wilmington center had no reports of tornadoes on the ground, although there were reports of damage from straight-line winds, meteorologist Andy Hatzos said.

Strickland toured Mansfield and Shelby in Richland County on Saturday, after trips to other areas hit by flooding earlier in the week. He said he would request help from federal disaster officials, possibly by Monday after the cost of repairing the damage was added up.

No counties were added Saturday to the nine under states of emergency, although Strickland stressed that anyone needing help would get it.

“What I’ve tried to do and what we’ve all tried to do is let these folks know ... that we are working to get assistance to them as rapidly as possible,” Strickland said in a telephone interview from Richland County.

Flooding stretched across an 80-mile path through northwest and north central Ohio this week, leading Strickland to declare a state of emergency in nine Ohio counties.