The Associated Press
BUCYRUS, Ohio — Emergency workers rescued stranded motorists, dozens were evacuated from homes, and schools canceled classes Tuesday as several inches of rain caused floods and overflowed rivers across northern Ohio.
The Upper Sandusky school district in north-central Ohio canceled the first day of school after more than 9 inches of rain surged over river banks, and nearby Mohawk schools, which started the school year Monday, also canceled classes.
The downtown in the village of Carey was under about three feet of water, and the Carey Nursing & Rehabilitation Center was evacuated, said Wyandot County Lt. Neil Riedlinger.
An aide answering the phone at the home said 28 residents were being transferred to Wyandot Memorial Hospital.
The sheriff’s office urged motorists to stay out of the county because of extensive flooding, and, throughout the county, authorities were busy rescuing motorists whose vehicles had become submerged and residents who had water coming into their homes.
Wyandot County Sheriff Mike Hetzel said as the flood water rescinds it will fill up flood basins, causing further problems. The Wyandot County American Red Cross opened a shelter for evacuees and a local football team was going door to door to see if anyone was stranded, he said.
“This is the worst I’ve seen in 30 years,” Hetzel said.
To the east in Bucyrus, nearly nine inches of rain fell, and firefighters used a boat to rescue families from flooded homes. The Crawford County Emergency Management Agency estimated that about 80 people were evacuated and up to 200 more are expected to leave the area as the flood water approaches the overflowing river in town, Tim Flock, director of the agency, said Tuesday morning.
In Shelby, the Black Fork River overflowed, closing roads and flooding homes and businesses. Police evacuated two roads nearest the river, which runs directly through the center of town, according to dispatcher Renee Seibolt.
In northwest Ohio, the State Highway Patrol said high water on the highway led troopers to divert traffic after shutting down a seven-mile stretch of I-75 between Beaverdam and Bluffton. There was no immediate word on how long the interstate, one of the nation’s main north-south thoroughfares, would remain closed.
Live television footage from Mansfield on Tuesday morning showed a man slogging through water up to his waist in an industrial part of the town about 60 miles north of Columbus.
South of Mansfield, high winds that accompanied the arrival of the storms Monday afternoon left several homes and a barn with roof damage in the community of Bellville. A tree fell on one house, landing three feet from a bed where a woman was sleeping. There were no injuries.
The area had been under a tornado watch, but the National Weather Service received no reports of a tornado touchdown, meteorologist Gary Garnet said Tuesday.
More than 2 inches of rain fell Monday in Cleveland, pushing the month’s total over 8 inches and breaking the August record of 6.36 inches set in 1919.
Parts of northeast Ohio got nearly 5 inches. The downpour left basements and low-lying roads and parking lots swamped.
Near Akron, teachers preparing for the opening of Norton’s Cornerstone Elementary School ended up heaving sandbags for a while to hold back floodwaters from the doorway.
The American Red Cross opened emergency shelters for people forced to leave their homes because of flooded basements in the Akron area.