Storms Hit Ohio, Many Without Power

[Ghost in the Machine]

Storms Hit Ohio, Many Without Power
Published: 8/25/07, 10:06 PM EDT
By JOHN McCARTHY

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Storms slammed rain-soaked Ohio on Saturday and hundreds of thousands of people in the Midwest were without power after their homes were battered by lashing winds and flooding rains.

Tornado warnings were issued Saturday afternoon for parts of central and southeast Ohio. Downed trees and power lines were reported in the southern part of the state, said National Weather Service meteorologist Andy Hatzos.

Flooding this week spread across an 80-mile swath through the northwest and north central parts of the state. Gov. Ted Strickland toured some of the damaged areas Saturday.

"What I've tried to do and what we've all tried to do is let these folks know ... that we are working to get assistance to them as rapidly as possible," Strickland said.

Powerful storms rolling through the Upper Midwest during most of the past week caused disastrous floods from southeastern Minnesota to Ohio that were blamed for at least 18 deaths.

http://home.bellsouth.net/s/editorial.dll?bfromind=2755&eeid=5363694&_sitecat=1522&dcatid=0&eetype=article&render=y&ac=-2&ck=&ch=ne

[Critters2]

1. What a week! Ohioans (sp?), you're in my prayers! nt

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

2. Go southwest Ohio!

In all seriousness though, I hope people are alright. We got some high winds today, but other than that, we haven't had too many issues (However we did lose power for about 2 hours last monday)

[orleans]

3. thursday was crazy-wild weather around chicago.

damn!

[cutlassmama]

4. Would cell phone towers be knocked out too? I'm trying to get ahold

of my mother n-law and she's not answering her call phone (SW Ohio)

[Extend a Hand]

5. we've had one short rain in the last three weeks

South of I-70 in the dayton area. Everything is brown and dry. There aren't any weather related events going on here that should cause a cell phone outage.

[WillyT]

6. Can You Imagine A Tornado Coming Your Way, And You Are In A Flood Zone With...

no electricity???

Man you better have a radio and some battries, but even then with the power down and water everywhere, I'm not sure the early warning systen would work, and besides, where the hell do you run to???

Man... it's like a mini-Katrina in the midwest.

Any effected Ohio DUers checked in lately?

:scared::shrug::scared:

[Beausoleil]

7. I happen to be in Columbus right now

on business. I watched the storm come in from my hotel room after hearing all the warnings. I saw several funnel-like clouds but nothing really serious from my vantage point. It rained pretty good for about 15-20 minutes but the power was out for about 3 hours. But I was able to use my cell phone with no problems.

It's rained pretty good here several times over the last week but I'm not in any of the flooded areas, those are mostly northwest and northeast of here.

I'll be glad to get back home to San Antonio, where we just have "normal" flash flooding. Apparently Erin followed me here.