Washington County officials collaborate on disaster relief and seek state assistance for tornado damage
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MARIETTA – Washington County Emergency Management Director Richard Hays confirmed two tornadoes touched down in the Newport area, starting around Ohio 26, on Tuesday.
During the regular Washington County Commission meeting Thursday morning, multiple county entities debriefed on the damages, cleanup and maintenance process, and potential disaster relief from the state.
Hays said he's been documenting the damage in the county and only occupied residences count as damaged property. He said he will start sending documentation to the state for further assessment.
"For the county ... I've been talking to them and making sure they're tracking everything so they'll be able to turn that in for possible reimbursement from the state," he said. "So once the state gets everything from all of the counties involved they'll look and see what threshold we're at."
Hays and Washington County Engineer Roger Wright said they didn't think the damages would be enough to reach a federal level for damage reimbursement.
Hays said they were working with the Washington County Sheriff's Office drone team and the National Weather Service to gather more information. He said so far the widest path of the tornado was 400 yards wide and nearly 6 miles long with potential for it to be an EF2 tornado.
Hays said once all the information has been gathered and sent to the state the information will be reviewed and it could take about 30 days for the state to respond.
"When it comes to gaining any type of resources for a storm of this magnitude ... any types of resources that we can help bring into the county I think we need to follow that closely and decide whether we want to do that," said Commissioner Charlie Schilling.
Schilling said they could write up a declaration for the state regarding the severity of the flooding and wind damage.
Wright said the damage differed for each area and some were hit harder than others.
"We do have one bridge closed and damaged. The debris came down and lifted the deck off of the bridge and lifted the bridge up off its anchors," he said. "We've still got one road still closed today."
Wright said crews and maintenance are working long days to clean up tree limbs and power lines. He said there's not a lot of major damage but the main costs will be cleanup and manpower.
He said there are sections of County Roads 9, 10, and 14 that remain either closed or down to one lane.
"I do appreciate the citizens who are giving us a chance to do some work," said Wright. "We've had really good coordination with the sheriff."
Wright advised the public to be careful when driving on county roads due to debris and potential road work after the storm.
Commissioner Greg Nohe wanted to remind the public that although the Devola Sewer Project was announced to be officially completed at the beginning of July, the commissioners will continue to ensure the public is satisfied with their lawn regrowth.
"The engineer made it clear that further lawn repair would take place in the fall if necessary," Nohe said.
He said anyone who feels their lawn needs attention should notify the commissioner's office in writing before Aug. 31. Send concerns to devolasewer@wcgov.com and use "lawn repair" in the subject line of the email. He said to call the commissioner's office at 740-373-6623 for any questions.
Among agenda items, the commissioners approved the invoice for the preliminary stages of the Ohio 7 South and Blue Knob Road project. The invoice amounted to $26,891.75 for a service period of May 24 through June 20 for Woolpert Engineering.
"The project is on schedule for a preliminary report to get done sometime this fall," said Wright.
Wright said the project involves data collection for multiple county entities for both residential and industrial corridors.
He said it's been a "high priority for several years now" and they continue to make steps towards gaining more information to move the project forward. The project consists of upgrades and layout improvements on Ohio 7.
Amber Phipps can be reached at aphipps@newsandsentinel.com