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Weather brings down trees, floods and outages in Valley
YOUNGSTOWN
Mary Ripple of Howland woke up to the sound of her bedroom ceiling of her mobile home leaking from Saturday morning’s rain.
She contacted her dad shortly after 10:30 a.m. to talk about repairs when a tree, which was 4 feet in diameter, fell on her home at 2075 Weir Road NE.
“All of a sudden, the ceiling just started to shake,” she said.
The ceiling in her bedroom and in the kitchen came down and the tree’s branches trapped Ripple, her nephew, her 26-year-old son and his girlfriend for up to about 45 minutes.
“Luckily we’re all OK,” she said.
The family also had a dog and cat that were uninjured in the mayhem.
The mobile home, which Ripple has lived in for two years, was damaged beyond all repair. The American Red Cross has placed them in a motel for the next three days.
“This is going to continue to happen with the more rain we get,” she said.
The storm brought nearly 1.5 inches of rain as of late Saturday evening that caused power outages, other trees to fall over and road flooding in the Mahoning Valley.
June 2015 now ranks as the third-wettest June in history for the Youngstown area, according to the National Weather Service.
The NWS issued a flood watch until 4 a.m. today, and there is a 70 percent chance of more rain. Rain is also forecast through Wednesday night, including a chance of thunderstorms Tuesday and Wednesday.
Boardman police reported a tree fell after 8:41 a.m. onto Glenwood Avenue near Shields Road, blocking all four lanes of traffic. The tree was cleared from the scene about 11 a.m.
Flooding was also spotted near Cobblers Run in Poland Township. Flooding was so bad in that area that a Vindicator photographer became trapped on the road after taking photos of the flood.
The Trumbull County 911 center dispatcher said the center has received reports of flooding throughout the day.
County Engineer Randy Smith said flooding occurred in the northwest section of Trumbull with roads under water in West Farmington and Mesopotamia.
There were 239 outages reported in Girard, Bristol, Brookfield, Hubbard, Kinsman, Liberty, and Vienna Townships at 7:30 a.m. Saturday, according to Vindicator broadcast partner 21 WFMJ-TV.
About 36 customers were without power in Columbiana County along with an additional few customers in Trumbull and Mahoning counties.
FirstEnergy reported power was restored in most areas by 6 p.m.