By John Seewer
Associated Press
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press
 AP Photo/The Courier, Randy Roberts Rescuers hook a tow chain to a vehicle stalled in floodwaters in Ohio, Wednesday. Residents, who just recovered from flooding in August, faced waterlogged conditions once again. |
FINDLAY, Ohio — Shandale Collins spent the past five months renovating his home after floodwaters destroyed nearly everything. Now he’s wondering whether he’ll have to do it all over again.
Rising waters lapped at his garage Wednesday and crept closer to his home and others in the city of about 40,000 along the Blanchard River.
It was another blow to residents and business owners who were just getting over August flooding that displaced hundreds and caused millions of dollars in damage.
“We had the place completely gutted,” said Scott Adams, who was loading musical equipment from his downtown music store into a trailer to try to keep it dry. “I don’t see fixing the place again.”
The flooding wasn’t expected to be as bad as August’s — the city’s worst since 1913 — but firefighters told several residents to get out Wednesday, while others opted to move their belongings to higher ground.
Water started spilling into downtown Wednesday afternoon, forcing the city’s main thoroughfare to close where several storefronts remain empty from the last flood. Within a few hours, the entire street was covered by water.
Employees of a downtown pizza shop piled sandbags in front of their store. They had just put a final coat of paint on a day earlier, the last touches of their renovation.
At least 100 homes had some water damage by Wednesday afternoon, said Jim Barker, the city’s safety director. City and Hancock County officials closed roads to non-emergency personnel.
The Blanchard River was 4 feet above flood stage Wednesday afternoon and was expected to keep rising until Thursday afternoon, when could eclipse 5 feet above flood stage, putting a substantial number of homes in danger, Barker said.
In Wapakoneta, in the state’s northwest, firefighters removed about 30 people from their homes and businesses because of high water, following three days of rain and snow. A foot of water surrounded one trailer park, fire chief Kendall Krites said.
By afternoon, the state Department of Transportation had closed 88 state and federal routes in eight northwest Ohio counties, with most remaining closed into the night.
High school students in Pemberville, near Toledo, helped build a sandbag wall to try to protect the downtown business district from the rising Portage River.
In southern Ohio, emergency officials monitored the Ohio River’s rising waters.
“People in the low-lying areas are getting household stuff, getting it out of the basements, or possibly just getting it out of the house,” said Dave Ivan, interim director for the Emergency Management Agency in Belmont County.
Officials in Indiana, where at least one tornado caused damage as part of fatal storms that scoured the South, were especially concerned with flooding, as the National Weather Service warned Wednesday that the Wabash, Tippecanoe and other major rivers had spilled their banks.
Fountain County emergency management officials went door to door warning residents along the Wabash that they may have to evacuate. Officials in Carroll and White counties in northern Indiana also urged people along the Tippecanoe to voluntarily flee.
In Newton County, in northwestern Indiana, divers spotted at least one body in a vehicle submerged underwater in a quarry. The car may have plunged into the icy water overnight, Indiana Conservation officers said. A diver was unable to open the car doors, and the recovery effort was postponed until water could be pumped from the quarry, they said.
As some southern counties dealt with flooding, some up north braced for a storm that was expected to dump as much as a foot of snow on some areas and up to 9 inches on Chicago. Hundreds of flights were canceled at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, officials said.
Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers James Hannah in Dayton, Terry Kinney in Cincinnati, Meghan Barr in Columbus, Don Babwin in Chicago, Jim Suhr in East St. Louis, Ill., and David Mercer in Champaign, Ill.