Northwest Ohio residents assess flood damage

The flood wasn’t as bad as the one in August, but now freezing is a problem.

FINDLAY, Ohio (AP) — Flooded furnaces and freezing conditions Thursday added to the misery for homeowners in the middle of another flood.

The water started to slowly recede in Findlay while other northwest Ohio towns braced for the water to come their way.

Restaurant owners in Grand Rapids along the Maumee River cleared out their freezers as floodwater threatened to swamp the historic downtown filled with antique shops and eateries. The river was expected to crest at 19.5 feet, 4.5 feet above flood stage, this morning, according to the National Weather Service.

“We’ve got a little advance notice,” said Les Heyman, assistant fire chief in Grand Rapids, about 20 miles south of Toledo. “Everybody’s got an evacuation plan.”

Flood warnings were posted throughout northern Ohio, from Toledo to Youngstown. Some snow but no rain was expected over the next few days, giving hope that the worst was over for most.

Some homeowners on both sides of the Blanchard River, which splits Findlay, waited for the river to fall enough so that they could start assessing the damage.

Others didn’t.

Airon Ramsey waded almost a block through waist-deep water so he could feed his cat and start cleaning up his home.

“I got in the door and my toes were already blue,” he said. “I believe in hypothermia now.”

Across the street, Dameion Cortez came home and found his furnace under water in the basement. Inside the house, it was barely above freezing.

It was the second time in five months that his house was flooded. This time, it wasn’t as bad as the August flood — the city’s worst since 1913 — but he’d enough anyway. “Time to move,” Cortez said.

Fire captain Tom DeFrieze said only three people needed help getting out of their homes Thursday, and the rescue boats on standby weren’t needed.

“It’s not into the houses this time,” he said. “It sure could have been a lot worse.”

Only a dozen people were staying at a shelter outside the flood zone.

The Blanchard River reached 5 feet above flood stage early Thursday before it began to drop, said Marty Thompson of the Cleveland station of the National Weather Service who monitors river levels. The river was expected to fall below the flood stage of 11 feet by this afternoon, the weather service said.

Downstream, residents of Ottawa were putting sandbags around their homes and businesses downtown.

Many people in Findlay had begun to get their lives back to normal after the flood in August that displaced hundreds and caused millions of dollars in damage.

“Those in the flood areas that got hit the hardest last August got hit again pretty hard,” said Jim Barker, the city safety director.

He said the winter flood posed new problems.

“This weekend, we’re going to contend with temperatures in the teens for highs,” he said. “That’s going to challenge our street department, to get these roadways cleared. Once the water does go down, I’m sure we’ll have a lot of ice on the streets.”

Monica Fairbanks found out just how cold the water was when she carried her three children through ankle-deep water Wednesday night after their furnace was submerged.

“My foot went numb as soon as I stepped in the water,” she said.

Few people, though, ventured outside into the flooded neighborhoods, even in the daylight.

“The last time there were girls swimming in it,” said Jeff Heitmeyer, who was checking on his brother’s house Thursday. “Nobody’s swimming this time.”