DELAWARE COUNTY — Rain, rain, please go away.
Severe thunderstorms, possible tornadoes and ping-pong-ball-sized hail, wind gusts up to 80 mph, and more than enough rain has popped up in parts of Ohio Monday evening and throughout Tuesday.
But so far, Delaware County Emergency Management Director Alex McCarthy said damage around the county has been minimal.
“We received some reports of ponding water along the sides of streets and culverts and such, but nothing that we would consider catastrophic at this time,” he said.
“We were out doing some damage assessments this morning, checking on some downed trees off of Route 23 in Orange Township, but that so far is the only concentrated damage we’re aware of.”
The National Weather Service still has Delaware County under a severe thunderstorm watch until Tuesday at 8 p.m., but McCarthy said thankfully the worst of the storm seems to be behind the area.
“I think our severe threat is by and large over for today and tomorrow,” McCarthy said.
“We’re still going to have some light rain showers here, but at this point, I think our flash flood and flood threats are generally gone. It really does appear like the worst of the weather has managed to stay south of us.”
While McCarthy said he doesn’t anticipate any more severe weather, the county is still experiencing a “very hot and humid air mass,” which is something his staff is continuing to monitor.
McCarthy added that though tornado watches tend to worry people the most, severe thunderstorm winds from a storm like Monday and Tuesday’s can be equally as scary and destructive.
“When you have systems like what we have today moving through, you can easily get wind gusts up to 80, 90, 100 mph, and that has been reported over parts of Indiana for instance,” he said.
“Those kinds of winds can cause damage to homes and businesses, so we always want to make sure people take severe thunderstorm warnings seriously — even if there’s not a tornado with it.”
McCarthy also said if a flash flood warning is in effect, people need to try and avoid driving — if they are driving, they need to obey barricades and not drive through running or standing water on a roadway.
DeWine warns of more severe weather in other parts of Ohio
Governor Mike DeWine held a press conference Tuesday afternoon to say there were active tornado warnings in Fayette, Greene and Clark counties. That three-county area is a little over an hour drive from the city of Delaware.
“We are in a very dangerous weather situation that really involves all of Ohio,” DeWine said. “It is unusual to see this, but danger can be anywhere in the state. And it is not something that’s going to end tonight.”
DeWine anticipated that parts of the state are going to get hit with another storm Tuesday night and that “odds are we’re going to have problems with flooding for the next several days at least.”
He estimated that storm causing issues in the Dayton area Tuesday afternoon would hit Columbus by 4 p.m. — and when it hits, it affects the area for about two hours.
DeWine said there has been one fatality related to flooding in the village of Roseville in Muskingum County. The governor signed a proclamation that declared a state of emergency for Perry and Muskingum, and activated the National Guard’s highwater rescue team.
“I anticipate that we will be adding counties to that [state of emergency] list and we will do that when that is necessary,” DeWine said.
