Hancock County will invest $1M for study of flood control

Associated Press

FINDLAY

Efforts to find ways to control flooding of a northwest Ohio river will proceed after a county agreed to invest $1 million to help fund the second phase of a three-part study.

Hancock County commissioners in Findlay last week approved the investment in the second phase of the Blanchard River watershed flood control study. The Army Corps of Engineers allocated $1.4 million for the second phase in May, and the county’s contribution was needed to keep the study going, The Courier of Findlay reported.

Those contributions allow an engineering firm to continue working on the study, but the corps has said there is no guarantee that federal funds will be appropriated in the future for the study, the newspaper reported.

The slowness of federally required flood studies and the uncertainty over how long it will take to build flood-control projects have led to frustration for some area residents, the newspaper reported.

“We’re always holding our breath every time a storm system comes through,” Jeff Loehrke, Ottawa’s community-development director, told The Courier.

But area officials say there has been progress since August 2007, when a flood caused more than $100 million in damage to Findlay and an estimated $10 million in damage in the village of Ottawa in adjacent Putnam County. The river has flooded four times since then.

“We’re a lot farther along than we were four years ago,” Ed Ingold, president of the county’s Board of Commissioners, told The Associated Press.

The U.S. Geological Survey’s flood-warning systems have allowed better predictions on where and how much the river and its tributaries will flood, and Findlay’s warning system was upgraded in 2009.

A system for Ottawa, with upgraded and new river gauges, along with maps showing areas that flood, will be ready by early next year, Loehrke said.

Findlay has become adept at setting up an emergency call center so residents can get information on street closures and shelter locations, The Courier reported. Call-center staffers also refer people to a system that offers more community- related information.

“We now set up shelters and alternate areas for police, fire and EMS, since the river cuts through the middle of town” when it floods, Findlay Safety Director Jim Barker said. Property owners downtown also have worked to flood-proof their buildings.

“We’re really looking forward to seeing what the Army Corps has to offer” in permanent flood-control projects, Barker said.