Damage assessments will be conducted in Miami County on Saturday in the areas hardest hit by last Wednesday’s storms. The teams from the Miami County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) and the Red Cross will work in pairs and conduct preliminary damage assessments in these areas:
Village of Covington
North and South Pearl Street area
Walnut and Harrison Street areas
East Troy Pike area
Covington High School area
Concord Township
Swailes Road between County Road 25-A and Peters Road area
County Road 25-A area South of Troy
Monroe Township
Peters Road and Kessler-Cowlesville Road
The EMA Damage Assessment Teams will wear a lime green EMA vest and carry a green Miami County EMA Volunteer identification card.
The American Red Cross of Northern Miami Valley assessment teams will be identified by wearing a Red Cross vest.
The teams will gather information between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Teams will assess water damage today in Miami County as residents there and in Clark County cope with cleanup, potential mold and insurance questions in the aftermath of Wednesday’s historic flash flooding.
Two-person teams from the Miami County Emergency Management Agency and the Red Cross will conduct preliminary damage assessments in Covington and in Concord and Monroe townships.
The information will be given to the Ohio EMA to determine if the county qualifies for emergency assistance.
Rain up to 4 inches per hour fell in parts of the area Wednesday night, closing sections of Interstates 70 and 75 and prompting several rescues of stranded motorists.
More than 100 residents who were evacuated from a Clark County apartment complex early Thursday were allowed back inside briefly Friday to see what they could salvage.
Waist-deep water trapped people inside the Laynecrest Manor Apartments in Bethel Twp. Police and firefighters used boats to rescue residents.
By Friday, most of the waters had receded, and people waited for the chance to re-enter their homes.
Donna Wendling said she knew the things she wanted were gone: pictures of her son and daughter from their childhood.
“It hurts deeply,” she said.
Apartment manager Lori Stant, who is eight months pregnant with twins, said she had to be rescued.
“I grabbed my phone, my dog and went out the window,” she said.
Problems with mold
Flooding in homes can quickly lead to mold problems, and that has some doctors on alert.
“This is a little bit of an unusual circumstance,” said Nancy Pook, medical director of Kettering Medical Center’s emergency department. “This is more excessive that we’ve seen in several years in terms of flooding.”
Pook said asthma and allergy sufferers are two groups of people that tend to see increased problems when mold begins to grow.
“I think the key in this regard is to try and get it as dry as you can early on,” Pook said. “Make sure there’s plenty of ventilation.”
Home restoration companies have worked around the clock since flooding began.
“It started out about 11 o’clock at night, and the phone kept ringing,” said Randy Mount, president of Ram Restoration. “For every hour that water’s sitting in there, that drywall is getting wetter and wetter.”
Mount said his company has 22 trucks spread out across Clark, Miami and Montgomery counties working to dry out homes and businesses.
Flood insurance cheap
Heather Gigandet and her daughters are reeling from flooding that quickly sloshed through the backdoor of the Troy home they rent, rising higher and higher until electrical outlets were under water.
Gigandet teared up when talking about the destruction to her daughters’ bedrooms in the finished basement of the home on South Cedar Street. She said most of their possessions are destroyed.
Gigandet said her landlord did not have flood insurance, and she does not have renter’s insurance.
“We should have protected ourselves. It’s not really expensive, and that’s what is the saddest part,” Gigandet said.
Gigandet said she is getting some assistance from the Red Cross, and her landlord is paying out of pocket and personally helping with cleaning up the home.
Anyone can purchase flood insurance, said Philip Cox, who owns the Royal Crest Agency in Tipp City.
“People think that you have to be in a flood plain or a flood-prone area to buy it, but you don’t have to,” Cox said.
About 10 percent of Ohio property owners have it, he said.
Cox said policies range from as little as $130 a year for homes not in a flood plain to $800 a year if you are in a flood plain. For renters like Gigandet, the price could be as little as $49 a year.
“Certainly now people appreciate the benefit of flood insurance after what we just went through,” Cox said. “We’ve not sold a lot of flood insurance, but I have a feeling that in the next couple weeks, we’ll see a lot of people come in.”
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